This Is The Start of How it all Ends
by xxredwineandambiencexx
Summary: Caroline Forbes has never considered herself special. But when humans become aware of the existence of vampires, werewolves, and hybrids, she quickly discovers that she has a far larger part to play in this war than she previously thought.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I do not own The Vampire Diaries or its characters. If I did, The Originals would never have happened, Kol would be alive and happily causing mayhem somewhere, and Klaus and Caroline would be travelling the world and sexing it up.**

* * *

From: Dimitri Kruschev

To: Thomas Sanders

 **Original Vampires**

5 July 2015 9:24am

* * *

Thomas,

Ellis mentioned that you were our foremost authority on the vampires that they call Originals. Ahead of our meeting on Friday, would appreciate a quick briefing on the threat level and any information you can give me about this family.

Thanks,

Dimitri

* * *

From: Thomas Sanders

To: Dimitri Kruschev

 **Original Vampires**

5 July 9:37am

* * *

Dimitri,

With all respect to Ellis, he's talking out of his arse. There's not a lot of info on the Original family, and there's probably a reason for it. I've attached some pictures of the four siblings and I'll include a quick blurb on each one below based on rumours I've heard.

 _ **Elijah Mikaelson:** Believed to be the eldest Mikaelson. Had some rumoured activity in Mystic Falls, Virginia, and New Orleans before fading off the radar. Despite the otherwise calm demeanour, believed to be highly dangerous and would advise against approaching. Current location unknown. _

_**Kol Mikaelson:** Twin to Rebekah Mikaelson, and from all accounts is certifiably psychotic and incredibly violent. Not much known about him except that he has very little regard for human lives and fully embraces his vampire nature. Current location unknown._

 _ **Rebekah Mikaelson:** Youngest of the currently living Mikaelsons. Her brothers are very protective of her, Elijah and Niklaus especially. Vicious and deadly, do not approach. Current location unknown. _

_**Niklaus Mikaelson:** Erratic, unstable, sadistic, impulsive, and driven by his emotions. Believed to be a hybrid (whatever that is) and like his brother Kol, has little to no regard for human life. Do not approach under any circumstances. Current location unknown._

 _There's also two associates attached. I'm not sure of the identity of the first, but the second is Caroline Forbes. A young vampire, but if the timing is right she may have crossed paths with the Original family while they were in Mystic Falls- she was born and raised there before she was turned._

Thanks,

Thomas

P.S- How are the quads coming along?

* * *

From: Dimitri Kruschev

To: Thomas Sanders

 **Original Vampires**

5 July 2015 9:59am

* * *

Thomas,

Thanks for the info, this is a good starting point. They were apparently responsible for starting the vampiric disease, maybe they can shed some light on the best way to extinguish their species.

Quads are coming along well, they'll be ready in time for the big announcement to the rest of the world- they're the perfect way to show the population that we've got everything under control despite the revelation of vampires and werewolves.

We're just trialling some specialised weaponry now that will make their job easier when they're out hunting vampires.

FYI, the first woman that you mentioned as a possible associate is Katherine Pierce. I have someone trying to track her down as we speak, but reportedly she evaded Niklaus Mikaelson for 500 years, so I doubt that I'll have any luck.

And send someone out to find Caroline Forbes. If they left her alive, I have a feeling her link to the Original family is more significant than we think.

We'll take care of the rest.

Dimitri

P.S- Hybrids are part vampire, part werewolf, and about ten times harder to kill.

* * *

She's on a date when humans find out about vampires and werewolves. And really, it's just her luck because the man she's with is a human. And he's tall, dark, and handsome, a brooding artist type that most definitely does not remind her of anyone she knows.

Except he totally does.

His name is Jamie, and he's like Klaus with the sinful smile and the skilful fingers, but with none of the darkness that cloaks him like a second skin, and none of the mercurial change in temperament that alarms and exhilarates.

This is their third date, and she's considering letting him take her home and fuck her into the mattress, because that's what humans apparently do.

He'll bore her, they all do eventually. But he's right for right now, and she'll take her fill while she can, she might even drink from him and compel him to forget she'd ever existed.

As much as she'd loathe to admit it, she had actually learnt something useful from Damon Salvatore, and that was to not leave any loose ends that might come back to bite her later.

Pun not intended.

She sits back in her chair as Jamie takes his leave of her to go to the men's room, and to at least keep up appearances she turns her body towards the news broadcast from the TV on the wall, where a serious looking news anchor is relaying the news overlaid by footage of what looks like some sort of military branch hunting down and staking vampires.

The anchor urges people to stay calm and to not panic, that a new organisation known as the Supernatural Resistance Agency has been formed to counter this threat. She scoffs under her breath as the footage continues.

It's the displacement of air that clues her in to the fact that she's not alone, and it's with a resigned sigh that she turns back to the table.

It's a sight she'd hoped to never see again for probably the entirety of her vampiric existence given how psychotic he was. Fate however, always did like to screw her around.

"Hello darling." Kol Mikaelson grins smugly from the seat across from her, one ankle hooking around hers playfully. She suppresses the urge stab something or to set something on fire. Stefan would be proud of her control.

"You have got to be kidding me." She mutters under her breath. Kol seems to grin wider if possible, and her fingers twitch towards the fork beneath her fingers.

She's not sure of his intentions, his face giving away nothing. And she's not going to pretend that doesn't terrify her a little. An Original appearing at her dinner table can't mean anything good after all.

It would be so easy to just stab Kol in the hand, anything to actually get the younger Mikaelson away from her. Even a ten second head start is better than nothing. But running would also mean revealing her vampiric speed, and if humans were now aware of her kind…

"You look ravishing. I can see why my brother is so attracted to you-" Kol yelps as she drives her stiletto into his foot with a sweet smile.

"You were saying?" She asks dangerously as Kol extricates his foot from her heel.

"You have spirit." He replies instead, twirling a dinner knife between long, slender, piano player fingers. He makes the action look effortless and wonders if he's going to stab her with it. She tries to focus on his face instead of the winking metal, and she has to wonder when this became her life.

"Did you kill my date?" She asks dully, because she honestly wouldn't put it past Kol, knowing what she knows about him. Although she sort of already likes him, if the rumour that he bashed Damon's kneecap in with a baseball bat is anything to go by.

"Surprisingly no." Kol answers immediately with a winning smile, and okay she can sort of see why people would fall for his charm. If she'd been human and more foolish she probably would have been one of those girls.

Of course with Damon Salvatore, she had been one of those girls.

Kol is dressed quite casually considering the restaurant that they're in, just jeans and boots and a Henley, expensive looking wool coat open at the collar. It seemed to be a look favoured by the Mikaelson brothers in their downtime, Elijah excepted because she has yet to see him in anything less than a suit.

"So why are you here exactly?" She asks as she spears some asparagus with her fork and pops it into her mouth.

Kol's eyes flick towards the TV before returning to hers.

"We had it on good authority that vampires would be exposed to the world very soon. My brother-" He says this with the slightest hint of disdain. "Wanted to keep you safe, and ordered that I come and fetch you to him."

She sits back in her chair, absolutely floored by his words.

"I never thought I'd see the day that Kol Mikaelson becomes an errand boy." She remarks, continuing to eye the other man off carefully as he continues to twirl the dinner knife in his hand.

They're drawing the attention of more than a few curious onlookers, although she suspects that it's more to do with Kol's good looks than anything else, given most of the attention is coming from females.

Kol smiles faintly as if her words are amusing, although there's a flash of _something_ in his eyes that sends shivers down her spine. She immediately straightens, remembering that although yeah, Klaus sort of has a thing for her, Kol is nothing like his brother and probably wouldn't hesitate to stab her if she pissed him off.

And right now she got the sense that she was pissing him off.

"You'd be surprised what you'll do to avoid a dagger through the heart." Kol replies, tucking the knife into the sleeve of his coat. "We should probably get going before the SRA arrive." He adds in bored tones, just as the door is kicked in and the screams begin.

Kol moves faster than she even would have thought possible, another dinner knife in hand as he flings it at the nearest black clad man holding a semi automatic weapon. The man goes down like a tonne of bricks and Klaus scoops up another piece of cutlery.

"Get down!" He calls to her as another man points begins to shoot his own weapon, trying to get a bead on Kol long enough to be able to take him down. The hiss of pain from Kol tells her that these aren't conventional bullets, but probably wooden ones designed to slow down a vampire at the very least.

Kol moves with a ruthless efficiency, every action designed to inflict the most possible damage as he darts from one spot to another, looking for that opening to take down the next uniformed man.

And the thing that strikes her the most about the quartet of armed men is that they work far too well together, and they're actually making this _difficult_ for Kol. And that is alarming in and of itself, because if these men are humans, they shouldn't be able to react as quickly as they do.

Kol very quickly takes down the last two men, and it's the troubled expression on his face as he grabs her by the arm with a bloodied hand that has her going willingly rather than struggling against him.

"What the hell was that?" She gasps out as Kol steers her out into the cool night air and towards a black SUV.

He pushes her roughly towards the car.

"Get in. I'll explain on the way."

* * *

Kol's grip on the steering wheel is white knuckled, blood from the restaurant drying on his hands as he takes the SUV out onto the back roads.

She keeps an eye on the rear view mirror, checking to make sure they hadn't been followed.

She's sort of used to large scale carnage, it comes with the territory of being a blood sucking creature of the night. But she's never witnessed Kol being this silent for this long, and she can practically hear him thinking, sorting through what he'd just witnessed.

She gives him about ten minutes grace before she starts bombarding him with questions.

"What the hell happened back there?" She asks softly as his grip tightens on the steering wheel for a moment.

"That was a quad." He replies dully, eyes flicking all around them as they wind through the pitch black.

She has no idea where they are anymore, or where he's even planning on taking them. But becoming a fugitive on the run was so _not_ a part of her plans, especially since she's still dressed in her tight dress and heels from her date.

"Would you mind elaborating a little on that?"

Kol lets out a long suffering sigh, as if it's actually killing him to be here in the car with her and playing babysitter.

"From what we've heard, quads are enhanced humans specifically designed to hunt and take down vampires. They inject them with some sort of serum. It makes them faster and quicker to react to situations than humans."

"So like vampire hunters but on crack?" She asks uncertainly as Kol chuckles.

"Something like that yeah. They've obviously got specialised weaponry, one of them managed to nick me with a wooden bullet. Hurt like a bitch despite the adrenaline."

She falls silent, thinking of a way out of this situation. As nice as Kol had been to her, she still didn't want anything to do with any Originals for a very long time, if ever.

And if Kol was a target back there, she figures that not being associated with him would be safer for her in the long run.

It only takes her a few seconds to piece together a plan in her mind before she takes action, praying that Kol's reaction times had slowed somewhat since his fight in the restaurant.

She pushes the passenger door open suddenly, ripping through her seatbelt and tucking and rolling out of the car. She can feel the asphalt scratch against her shoulder and winces as she gets to her feet. Kol almost immediately slams on the brakes behind her, but she doesn't look back, popping her shoulder back into place as she starts to run.

She figures that she probably has about a ten second window to get away from Kol before he can catch up to her. It would have to be enough.

Unfortunately, Kol's reaction times are faster than she gives him credit for, and she winces as he slams her into the nearest tree, pinning her to the trunk with his body.

"Did you seriously think you could outrun an Original?" Kol asks her delightedly, as if it's amusing that she even tried to escape from him.

"Son of a bitch." She hisses through her teeth.

Kol just shrugs, an apologetic look on his face.

"Well I have been called worse." He mutters under his breath before turning his gaze on her. He's not trying to compel her, she's on enough vervain that he wouldn't be able to break past it.

"We can do this the easy way or the hard way Forbes. The easy way involves us going back to the car and driving off into the night, no hard feelings. The hard way involves me snapping your neck and throwing you in the trunk until we can get to our destination. But one way or another, you are coming with me." Kol grins at her, fangs flashing in the moonlight as she swallows audibly.

"Your choice." Kol allows as she scoffs before kneeing him in the groin.

To his credit, Kol takes the hit like a champ, and he looks more annoyed than anything else at her attempts to escape from his grasp.

"Hard way it is then." Is all she hears before his hands close around her neck.

The darkness welcomes her with open arms.

* * *

When she next regains consciousness, she's not in the trunk of Kol's SUV like she'd expected. Instead, she's lying in a sumptuous four poster canopy bed.

Someone's also changed her into more comfortable clothes; jeans and a shirt and a jacket, which is embarrassing enough as is.

She sits up slowly, taking in her surroundings. She's clearly in a mansion of sorts, if the decoration is anything to go by, ancient clashing with modern in the oddest of ways.

She swings herself out of the bed, rubbing at the stiffness of her neck and making a mental note to hunt down Kol and murder him when she can figure out just where the hell he is.

Having your neck snapped _sucked_.

A quick look out the window reveals that the sun is just starting to rise over the horizon, casting light across the wide open space that surrounds the mansion. There's no cover to be seen anywhere, and that alarms her.

It's the footsteps in the hallway outside of her room that cause her to freeze, eyes darting around the room for anything that she can use as a weapon. She settles for a decorated vase, probably worth a fortune but if it's her or them she's willing to sacrifice the damn vase.

The doorknob twists, and her breath catches in her throat as Klaus steps into the room. He looks surprised to see her pressed up against the window, but says nothing as he crosses to the chair by her bed and drops down into it, fingers tented as he gazes at her with a smirk on his face.

He's haunted her nightmares (and her dreams) for almost 3 years now, and seeing him in the flesh so unchanged is surreal in the best and worst possible way.

"Hello Caroline." His voice is rough, the slightest hint of a British accent bleeding into his tone as he gives her a languid onceover, eyes settling on hers, staring her down. Challenging

She swallows, throat suddenly dry as she stares back at the man in front of her, the reason for all of her self doubt and turmoil for the past couple of years, the one who she considered giving up everything she's ever known for.

Her tongue darts out, wetting her lips as she slowly lowers the vase to her side.

"Klaus."

* * *

 **AN:**

 **Hello all. This officially marks the start of my next multi chapter story, coincidentally the first one that isn't an AH story.**

 **Since Plec seems to think that she can play around with the TVD universe and erase past storylines, I'll be doing the same.**

 **This is a universe in which humans have become aware of the existence of vampires, and the government has set up an agency known as the Supernatural Resistance Agency (SRA) to hunt down vampires and werewolves and drive them into extinction.**

 **They're aware of the Original Vampires, but not the whole, if they kill one then an entire line of vampires dies. Caroline is recognised as an 'associate' of the Originals, but the extent of her relationship with the family is not known to the SRA.**

 **Quads, or the four men that try and take down Kol, are genetically enhanced humans who are given vampire speed and strength and specialised weaponry, with their sole purpose being to hunt down the supernatural.**

 **Let me know if you have any questions! Next chapter is going to be a big information dump.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I do not own The Vampire Diaries or its characters. If I did, The Originals would never have happened, Kol would be alive and happily causing mayhem somewhere, and Klaus and Caroline would be travelling the world and sexing it up.**

* * *

Klaus doesn't even seem bothered by the vase in her hand, instead holding out his hand to her in a placating gesture. It's probably meant to be calming, but it just makes her all the more furious at being forced into this situation.

"Put down the vase Caroline, let's be reasonable." Klaus' voice is quiet, but it still commands her attention. He's always had that ability, the perks of being over 1000 years old she supposes.

Caroline takes a deep breath, her grip tightening around the priceless antique if anything, her back still pressed to the wall. She feels cornered, his chair on the opposite side of the bed blocking her way to the door.

Her tongue darts out to wet her lips, and she silently laments at how cracked they are, how hungry she is for something more than human food. She pushes down the bloodlust, pushes down her anger as best she can.

"Be reasonable?" She finally replies incredulously. "Your psychotic brother snapped my neck and threw me in the trunk of his car!" Her voice increases in volume despite her best efforts, the vase cracking under her hand.

Klaus winces at the grating sound.

"An unfortunate occurrence and one I plan on addressing with Kol shortly. It would have been much better for you if you'd come willingly."

She finally places the vase back on the wooden tabletop, turning away from him for a moment, even if it was just to gather her thoughts. Being in the same room as him was _distracting._ Their time together in the forest, however fleeting their encounter had been, was still a memorable one for her. And she hated the way that her body betrayed her whenever he was around.

"You realise that there are so many things wrong with that statement? You could have just I don't know, picked up the phone and called me like a normal person." She crosses her arms over her chest, a defensive move left over from her days of being human.

"And I'm sure you would have picked up the phone right away after realising that I was calling you sweetheart." Klaus replies, tone dripping with sarcasm. It's enough to make her roll her eyes and stamp her foot on the floor but she refrains. She needs to be on an even footing with him here.

Klaus remains seated, doesn't need to use his body or his stature to dominate the conversation, or the room. She's not sure if she's thrilled or terrified to be in his presence, and she hates feeling such confusion.

For all of his airs and his centuries of experience, Klaus remains infuriatingly the same, despite all of the years that have separated them.

"Maybe I would have." She replies softly as Klaus' fingers twitch where they're resting on the arm of the chair, the only sign that he's surprised by her answer.

"You could have come to New Orleans. There was always a place for you." Klaus' voice is low, and she can detect an undercurrent of hurt in his tone that has her blinking at him in surprise.

She had not expected their conversation to take this turn. Seeing him this vulnerable, this broken down reminds her that this is something that he only ever does with her. The smug, cool, distant façade is reserved for everyone else; her friends, his family, his subjects.

It should scare her, that he shows a completely different side to him when he's with her. But it doesn't. It used to, when he was showering her with dresses and bracelets and drawings. When she was afraid of the judgement of her friends, what they'd think. Now though…

Now it makes her feel powerful, and isn't that just something?

But you see, the thing that she will _never_ tell him is this.

She went to New Orleans. It was about a month after her mother had died, when she'd flipped the switch and just gone crazy for awhile. When she'd turned it back on and hated herself and what she'd become, the only person she could think of was him.

His offer. To show her the world, to _give_ her the world. Because no one had ever put her first like that, and she doesn't think that anyone ever will again.

She didn't say goodbye to her friends. She'd packed a bag one night and had driven off into the darkness, Mystic Falls disappearing in her rear view mirror as she pressed down on the accelerator.

It had taken three days for Elena to realise that she was missing, three days for her friend to leave her a message asking where the hell she'd gone. Caroline had switched off her phone and left it at the bottom of her bag, not willing to deal with Elena and her Salvatore drama right now.

She hadn't needed to ask about Klaus or his family once she got into the city centre, they were the hot topic in pretty much every bar that she visited along Bourbon Street. She would sip slowly at her drink, overnight bag beside her as she overheard snatches of conversation about Klaus and his siblings.

It was strange to hear of the Original family being respected rather than feared. Klaus had cast such a pall over Mystic Falls in the short time that he'd lived there. Hearing of this other side of him was strange.

A visit from Klaus or one of his siblings was a good revenue booster for the nightspot, even if it was Kol wreaking havoc and starting bar fights and just generally being a sanctimonious asshole.

Asking after Klaus hadn't been a big deal. Apparently plenty of people did it, even if it was just to ask a favour of him. Regardless, it was easy enough to find out where he was living, and easier still to get a set of detailed directions from one of the many bartenders who didn't think to ask twice for her name.

The house that she was directed to was gorgeous, multiple levels with a wrap around balcony on each floor. There'd been some sort of street party happening outside, and it was very easy to blend in with the dancing crowd of humans and vampires, finding a strategic spot to stake out the house while she plucked up the courage to knock on the front door.

Because really, there was no turning back after she made that decision. Klaus would want all or nothing, no in between. By knocking on that door, she's committing to something she's not sure that she's ready for. Eternity is a long time after all.

Even now she can still remember what he was wearing when she finally saw him appear on the second floor balcony. Worn in boots, faded jeans, the usual Henley and those damn necklaces that he wore everywhere. Nothing extraordinary, but he still seemed to radiate power.

She had taken a single step forward. The crowd had shifted, she'd taken a breath, and then everything had changed.

Because the next time she'd glanced upwards, eyes seeking him out, he hadn't been alone. At first glance she might have mistaken the blonde women for Rebekah Mikaelson. But the laugh lines, the awkward way she held herself betrayed her humanity.

She could only watch on as the blonde ran a gentle hand up Klaus' arm, Klaus leaning closer to listen to her, chuckling at whatever it was she'd said. He looked relaxed and comfortable in her presence, like the blonde was familiar. A part of his life.

It had been enough to send her running. She hadn't looked back since, closed off that part of her that had dared to hope for something _more._ She had hardened herself against the world, and she had hated herself for it.

"Caroline?"

His voice is gentle, pulling her back into the present. The look on his face is one of concern, and it's enough to have her crossing the room, heading towards the door so she can at least figure out a way out of here. Anything to get away from him.

He chooses that moment to stand, a fluid movement that blocks her path. Caroline narrows her eyes at his chest, not wanting to look into his eyes. He tilts his head towards her, breath fanning against her cheek.

"What are you so afraid of?" He asks quietly, a loaded question if ever she's heard one.

She squeezes her eyes shut, hands clenched into fists at her side.

"Let me go Klaus."

"Caroline?" There's a warning in his tone somewhere, but she doesn't want to listen. She's done listening.

"Let me go." She repeats, finally looking him in the eyes, chin jutting out defiantly. His eyes are blazing with _something,_ jaw clenched tight in anger or frustration. She can't tell and it should scare her, but it doesn't. Not anymore.

"I can't do that." He finally says with a sigh, running his hand through his hair.

"I will not be held here against my will." She hisses through her teeth at him, noting the surprised look that dances across his features momentarily.

Klaus sighs, his entire body slumping in defeat.

"Will you at least hear Elijah out before you make your decision?"

* * *

She very much gets the sense that she's walking into the lion's den; figuratively speaking as Klaus shadows her footsteps down the stairs.

She knows very little about Klaus' older brother, Elijah Mikaelson. Elena swears that he's a decent person all things considered, but there's something about Elijah that's always set her on edge.

Klaus was obvious with his emotions. He didn't really wear his heart on his sleeve, but when he was angry, people knew about it. He and Kol were similar like that; they could flip their emotions on and off like they would their humanity switch.

Elijah was different. He was quiet, and reserved, and aloof. Beneath the polished veneer of dress shoes and suits was someone dangerous. He had to be, he wouldn't have survived for 1000 years otherwise. Elijah was more subtle in his anger, and that was what made him all the more terrifying.

Caroline can feel Elijah's eyes on her as soon as she steps into the lounge room. Her eyes land on Kol Mikaelson, who gives her a two fingered salute and a smirk, head cocked to the side as he gives her a languid onceover. He's sprawled out across one of the sumptuous couches, drink in hand and a cigar between his lips.

Even in this seemingly relaxed state of his, she's perceptive enough to tell that Kol is still on edge, ready to react to anything that goes wrong. She takes note of this as she perches as far away from Kol as she could possibly get, on one of the other lounges.

"Ms Forbes." Elijah greets her with a cordial nod, smile not quite reaching his eyes as he holds his own glass. "Can I offer you a drink?"

Caroline waves him away with a tight smile, shifting slightly when Klaus sits down next to her on the lounge, shoulder knocking against hers.

"Am I to understand that you have… reservations about remaining with us?" Elijah voices, tone neutral as he stares her down.

"I have reservations about my neck being snapped and being thrown into the trunk of a car." She snaps in reply, levelling a glare at Kol.

Elijah sighs, directing that calm gaze towards his younger brother, who's still puffing away at his cigar like he doesn't have a care in the world.

"Kol, apologise please."

Kol lets out a long suffering sigh of his own, turning that dark gaze on her, a playful smile curling at his lips.

"Sorry for snapping your neck and throwing you in the trunk of the car." He repeats in a monotone voice, which pretty much tells her that he didn't really give a shit and that he'd do it again in a heartbeat if needed.

Elijah casts his gaze heavenwards but refrains from saying anything more to his brother. It would have to do for now.

"How did this happen? How did humans become aware of vampires?" She voices her question out loud, drawing the attention of all three of the Original brothers.

Surprisingly enough, it's Kol that answers for the rest of the room, finally taking an interest in the proceedings unfolding right in front of his very eyes.

"When you've lived as long as we have darling, you'll find that history has a way of being cyclical. Vampires have always lived on the fringes of humanity, it's the only way that we can gain sustenance and continue living. In a manner of speaking." Kol smiles toothily at her, the slightest hint of fang showing through at his private joke.

"Eventually once every couple of hundred years, a human more intelligent than the rest of them figures out that there's something not quite right with us. Very rarely does it have far reaching consequences. The world was a bigger place back then."

"By the time the news would have spread from one spot to the next, it would change beyond recognition and seem so outlandish that very few people would be hard pressed to believe in vampires." Klaus picks up from where Kol abruptly left off; speaking for the first time since he'd seated himself beside her.

"But now the world is smaller. More connected." She pieces the puzzle together in her mind, looking towards Elijah for confirmation.

He gives her a curt nod.

"Indeed. And now they've gathered enough momentum to pose a problem to us. They call themselves the SRA, or the Supernatural Resistance Agency. They're backed by the US government, and to the best of my knowledge they are aware of the existence of vampires, hybrids, and werewolves. They are also aware of our identities and the role we played in the creation of the vampiric race. I'm hoping they are not aware of the different vampire bloodlines."

"But why that restaurant? Why did they happen to be in the same place as Kol and I just as the news was breaking?"

Klaus shifts next to her, his body tense as he glances briefly at her.

"They weren't there for Kol. We think that they were after you sweetheart. Because of your association with my family."

"But how did you know that I was there? That I was even going to be there at that particular time?"

"I've been tailing you for awhile now darling." Kol cuts in, giving her a quick wink. "I was waiting for the right moment to pull you aside and explain things to you properly. Unfortunately I was forced to improvise. Hence the throwing of the dinner knives."

Kol flicks his wrist in a pantomime of his earlier action, and she watches as the last silver knife turns end over end and lodges itself in the wooden panelling. She hears Klaus sigh in exasperation from where he's sitting next to her.

Elijah interrupts Klaus before he can continue.

"What I believe Niklaus was trying to say, is that the SRA were there to bring you in. Possibly it may have been because you might have had information on us. Had Kol not been there, you may very well not be alive right now. Likely they would have disposed of you once your usefulness ran out." Elijah pronounces delicately as she shivers at the thought of more torture.

She can't help but glance over at Kol, who just lifts his shoulder in a shrug and takes another puff on his cigar like it isn't a big deal what was happening.

"I believe thanks are in order then." She directs towards Kol, who just nods once at her before turning his back on the rest of them.

"We of course, understand that you may wish to remain independent from us and continue your existence as you were. Should you wish to leave, we will not hold you here against your will. But if you do leave, you will have no further contact from any of us, at least until this entire situation blows over, if it does." Elijah voices without hesitation.

She mulls over Elijah's words in her head. If she decides to up and leave, she could possibly be hunted by this shady SRA. If she's captured, it's likely she'll be tortured and killed, if what Kol and Elijah are insinuating turns out to be true. She will be completely and utterly alone, with no back up and no guarantee of survival.

"If you choose to remain in our company, we will take you with us wherever we may go, and offer you our protection to the best of our abilities. But if you choose to stay, we will not allow you to leave unless we deem it absolutely necessary. If you choose us, you choose us for the long haul." Elijah continues, watching her carefully as she taps her fingers against her knees in a nervous gesture.

"Basically the choice here is die, or increase your chances of survival slightly until we can figure out the best way to take the bastards down." Kol doesn't bother to mince his words, delivering it in that blunt way of his.

"Will you stay here then? Until things blow over?" She glances between Klaus and Elijah, both of whom exchange a look before falling silent.

It's Elijah that clears his throat, drawing her attention back to him.

"No we will not. In fact we're leaving at first light tomorrow."

"Where are you going?" She asks, not sure if she even wants to hear the answer.

Elijah tugs at the cuffs of his jacket, smiling faintly at her.

"New Orleans of course."

* * *

 **AN: Aaaand Chapter 2 is done and dusted. We will find out in coming chapters just how much of a threat the SRA poses to our heroes.**

 **Next chapter The Originals head to New Orleans, you'll have to wait and see if Caroline chooses to join them!**

 **Caroline will also find out something surprising about herself and her vampiric nature that will pull her further into the brewing war between the SRA and the supernatural.**

 **This was a bit of a filler, but we'll get some plot and world building next chapter.**

 **Until next time!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: I do not own The Vampire Diaries or its characters. If I did, The Originals would never have happened, Kol would be alive and happily causing mayhem somewhere, and Klaus and Caroline would be travelling the world and sexing it up.**

* * *

Caroline rests her temple against the window and closes her eyes, trying to feign sleepiness, even if it was so Kol would leave her alone.

Elijah was in the driver's seat, steering the car patiently through the back roads. As Klaus had explained to her briefly when she'd asked why they weren't taking the highway, checkpoints had been set up by the SRA intermittently along the route, and they would rather not draw any unnecessary attention to themselves.

Klaus was in the passenger's seat, and she could hear his foot tapping impatiently against the carpeted floor of the SUV. Klaus was not a man who liked to be still for long periods of time, his body practically built for movement. Even with her eyes closed she can feel his eyes on her, had always been intuitive and overly observant when he was around her.

Kol was sharing the backseat with her, and she'd instantly regretted getting into the SUV after seeing him waiting for her. Kol leered at her, obviously not familiar with nor fond of the concept of personal space, arms and legs spread across the space and forcing her into a small corner.

Klaus had given him a filthy glare, but even that hadn't been enough to discourage Kol.

With a sigh she pulls out her phone, thumb hovering over Stefan's name. She didn't really give a shit about what Elena or Damon were up to, but she at least wanted to know that Stefan was safe now that the world had officially gone insane.

"Has anyone heard from Stefan?" She voices out loud as both Elijah and Klaus meet her eyes in the rear mirror.

"Not Stefan Salvabore." Kol looks delighted with his own joke, even as she rolls her eyes towards the possibly unstable Mikaelson brother.

"Kol?" Elijah asks patiently, even as Kol turns to stare at Elijah. "Shut up."

"God you people are absolutely no fun at all." Kol slumps down in his seat, crossing his arms like a petulant child. It's a strange sight, to see a 1000 year old vampire act in such a way.

"I've already given him a call sweetheart." Klaus reassures her. "He said that he's fine, and that he'll try and meet us in New Orleans."

She nods, fingers curling around her knees as Elijah turns onto yet another winding road.

"What's in New Orleans?" She asks suddenly, sees Klaus' lips tick upwards in amusement.

"Home." Kol supplies, chancing a glance towards her as Elijah makes a soft noise of agreement. "Or at least, the closest thing we've had to home in a couple of centuries."

"There are people there that can help us before we move on." Klaus fills in the gaps for her. "We won't be staying for long. Enough to gather some supplies and then move on. Elijah knows some people in the North that are gathering to strike back against the CIF."

"Do you really think war is the best answer to this?" She voices out loud. Kol scoffs, Elijah looks bemused at her question. Klaus says nothing.

"If you have a more peaceful alternative Caroline I would like to hear it." Elijah replies politely.

"But it's always going to be like this. Even if you do win and manage to wipe the CIF out, the humans are always going to resent us. And they're always going to regroup. Would it not be better to make peace with them?" She points out as Kol scoffs at the notion.

She may not have been a vampire for a thousand years like the three Mikaelson brothers, but surely they could see the logic of such a proposition?

"It is not in our nature to make peace with those who seek to kill us." Klaus remarks coldly. "It never has been and it never will be."

"I think that's sad. I think if Vampires were more organised the potential is there. For the two species to get along. We can only take blood from those who are willing and in return the humans leave us alone." She muses out loud as Elijah and Klaus exchange a glance in the front seat.

"That is the stupidest idea I've ever heard." Kol remarks lightly, inspecting his nails with a bored expression on his face.

Elijah is slightly more sympathetic.

"We have tried in the past centuries to unite vampires into something resembling an organised society. Unfortunately there are always those who are more ambitious than others." He remarks with a pointed glance towards Klaus. "The system collapsed in the early 1500's, and we've been unable to replicate it since."

"Yes because you were chasing Katerina across the Asian continent." Klaus points out as Elijah rolls his eyes.

"And who was the person who gave me that order Niklaus?"

"Well don't you think it's high time that you tried again?" Caroline points out to Elijah, even as Kol lets out a sigh from the seat beside her. "A lot can change in 500 or so years."

"Not enough when you're a vampire." Elijah smiles apologetically at her. "We hold long grudges and have even longer memories. I think you would be hard pressed to find many vampires who share a worldview as idealistic as yours."

She scowls out the window, unused to having people disagree with her. Elijah did have over a thousand years on her, and he was probably right. But it still infuriated her that a creature could live for so long and be so unchanging, even as the world changed around them.

She meets Klaus' eyes in the mirror once more, holding his gaze for a long moment before turning away.

It didn't mean anything, that she'd come with him. It didn't.

* * *

They stop a few hours later by a picturesque lake with a picnic table. Elijah parks the SUV and pockets the keys, glancing around the space warily. There are a few humans around, a small family some distance away, a couple dipping their feet into the water.

But for the most part it's abandoned, and it's with a relieved sigh that she finally plants her feet on the ground, tilting her face back towards the sunlight.

She might have the super speed and strength that comes with being a vampire, but even her body still betrays her on long car rides, her limbs still stiffen up as time slips away.

"Try not to wander off sweetheart. We're only going to be here for a couple of minutes." Klaus murmurs towards her, shoulder brushing against hers as Kol stalks off towards the lake, Elijah drifting after him, keeping an eye on his younger brother lest he do anything stupid to draw attention to their group.

She nods towards Klaus, settling down onto the grass, willing for him to leave her be and just give her space.

Of course, he doesn't, because Klaus is Klaus, and he seemingly doesn't know what personal space is. Just like his brother, she reflects as the Hybrid drops himself onto the ground next to her.

"I'm sorry that you got dragged into this." Klaus' voice is a deep rumble in his chest, and she can't help but glance at him in surprise. Klaus never apologises for anything if he can help it.

"I'd be dead if I wasn't here. Isn't that what Elijah said?" Caroline returns lightly, eyes landing on the eldest Mikaelson, who's staring out over the water, hands clasped behind his back. Kol is skipping stones across the water, and he's surprisingly good at it.

"He's right love. This isn't the first time humans have been made aware of vampires, but it's the first time they've had the technology to do something about it."

"What's the end game Klaus? We get to New Orleans and then what? We go north? We spend the rest of eternity running from the humans?"

"Not running." Klaus' voice is steely, hands digging into his knees. "Not for long. We fight back."

She throws her hands up in the air in frustration.

"You always say that! What's the threshold? What's the end game Klaus?" She repeats furiously, turning towards him. "You'll wipe out the human race if it means that they'll leave you and your family alone?"

"If that's what it takes." Klaus replies, his voice infuriatingly calm. He catches her wrist, fingers closing around her skin and bones. "You might have my favour Caroline, but I'm still a monster. And if I have to choose my family over the life of one insignificant human I will do so every single time. You would do well to remember that."

"You're despicable." She hisses towards him, getting to her feet and brushing the dirt off the seat of her jeans.

"We're vampires love. It's in our nature."

She turns on her heel and stalks away from him, determined to put some distance between her and Klaus, even if it only is for the next couple of minutes until Elijah gets jumpy and decides that they need to move on.

Or until Kol sinks his fangs into the family by the water, whatever comes first.

"Caroline!" Klaus calls after her, and she takes great pleasure in the fact that Klaus can't use his vamp speed to catch her, at least not without drawing suspicion from the humans still around.

"Caroline come on." Klaus catches her just before she reaches the car, and she turns to face him pushing out against his chest, trying not to remember just how firm it was and how it felt pressing her into the floor of the forest…

Klaus doesn't stumble backwards, seemingly unmoved by her attempt at showing her strength. There's _something_ in his eyes that she can't decipher, an expression of concern or regret. She's still trying to decide.

That's when she realises a split second too late that the world around them has gone completely and utterly silent. The sounds of the humans are gone, the bird calls are gone. Everything is too quiet.

And then it explodes suddenly into sound, gunshots and bullets strafing through the air with an unerring accuracy.

Klaus reacts a little quicker than she does, tackling her to the ground even as a spray of bullets thunder towards them, lodging themselves into the side of the SUV.

Klaus' chest is pressing into hers, his entire body providing cover for her as he manages to roll them under the car, the shadow from the sun wreathing them in relative darkness, making it hard for anyone to see them unless they get down on their hands and knees to check.

Her cheek is pressing into the material of his Henley, his arm wrapped tightly around her waist, legs tangled together. She can see his pulse jumping beneath the skin of his throat, and his lips brush over her forehead as he breathes out, breath fanning across her face.

It would be so easy to close that distance between them, to allow herself what she'd been denying for so long. Because despite all of the years that stretched between them, and despite the disapproval of her friends, she was still attracted to Klaus.

It used to rip her apart, that attraction and trying to hide it. What with Elena's disapproval and Damon's glee over the turn of events once they found out about it, she could barely function, so overwhelming it was for her.

Turning off her humanity had been an easy enough decision, if only so she could sweep it all under the rug, pretend that it never happened. Everything was so much easier when you didn't have to worry about a pesky thing like emotions.

"I need to-" Klaus is pulling away from her, clawing out from under the car and taking stock of the situation within split seconds.

He launches for the first member of the quad, taking him down as easy as breathing. She shouldn't be surprised really, that Klaus excelled where Kol hadn't that night in the restaurant. Elijah and Kol are dodging another wave of bullets, a murderous expression on Kol's features that's enough to make her feel sorry for the humans trying to take him down.

One of the bullets lodges into Kol's shoulder, and she winces on his behalf, hearing him snarl in pain.

And then a hand closes around her ankle, and yanks her from underneath the car in a startling show of strength. She shrieks as gravel scratches up her back, squirming away from the man pointing a gun at her.

Elijah steps past her with all of the grace of a ballerina, a strange juxtaposition as he reaches into the man's back and yanks his heart out, taking half of his spine as he goes. It's in that moment that she remembers why they all used to fear Elijah, all those years ago.

The gun lands at her feet as she stares up at Elijah in shock. It's strange seeing him like this, a feral gleam in his eye, hair askew and clothes covered in blood.

"Best help me finish them off Ms Forbes before Kol starts playing with his food." Elijah voices as politely as ever, like they're not in a life or death situation here. "Go straight for their hearts." Elijah advises as he tugs at his button up shirt, smearing blood along the hemline as he strides calmly towards the two men that are cornering Kol.

As it turns out, their one quad had very quickly turned into two. She counts three bodies as she follows in Elijah's wake, Klaus currently engaging with two more. Caroline can tell that he's enjoying it, the complacent smirk on his face as he _toys_ with the two enhanced humans.

Elijah doesn't bother to stop and help Klaus, heading straight for where Kol's bent over, clutching his shoulder. Agony is writ clear across his features, and that's enough to give her pause, because a bullet from a human isn't enough to cause _that_ much pain.

The two soldiers have him cornered, one pointing a gun straight at his forehead, the other circling around behind him. The one in front cocks his gun, even as Kol snarls at him, obviously too incapacitated to do anything more than try to intimidate.

The two remaining soldiers react around the same time that Elijah launches himself at them, a mere blur as he engages with one of the men. The other turns towards her, and she's reacting before she can think about it, knocking the gun out of his hands, grappling with him even as the soldier reaches for a wooden stake.

The smell of vervain blooms in her nostrils, and she has to wonder where the hell these humans are getting their information from, because the whole vervain thing isn't exactly a widely known fact to the general human population.

She loses concentration for only a moment, but it's enough for the soldier to drive the stake into her stomach. It's not enough to kill her, but it hurts like hell, and it's like acid eating away at her skin as she backhands the soldier in the face, pulling the stake from her body and letting it clatter to the ground.

He goes stumbling, and Elijah steps forward to finish him, but she steps around the Original, her hand driving into the chest of the soldier, clutching around his heart and ripping it from the cavity.

Elijah is staring at her with something akin to shock, like he wasn't sure if she had it in her to actually kill someone so brutally.

She ignores him, dropping the heart to the ground and blurring over to wash her hands in the water of the lake. She returns to Kol's side around the same time as Klaus does.

It doesn't take a genius to see that something's wrong with Kol, that this wasn't just a normal bullet. If it had been, Kol's ability to heal would have pushed it back out of his body fairly quickly.

Elijah's already kneeling beside Kol, hands ripping open Kol's t-shirt. She can feel Klaus' eyes on her, but ignores it in favour of sinking to her knees and inspecting the sickly green tinge to Kol's skin around the site of the wound, the blood oozing out of the bullet hole.

"Something's wrong." She murmurs to Elijah over the sound of Kol's soft groans.

Even Klaus is kneeling next to Kol now, and for the briefest of moments their eyes meet before she's looking pointedly away.

"Have you ever seen anything like it?" Klaus questions Elijah impatiently, who shakes his head minutely.

"Never. He should be healing, unless there's something in there that stops him from doing so."

"It's poisoning his body." Caroline points out, noting that the green area is widening, blue spidery veins.

"I'm still here you fuckers." Kol wheezes out, laughter just this side of hysterical. "Get me to someone that can help me, it's obviously beyond our expertise."

"He's right; we need to get to New Orleans. Niklaus, can you carry him?"

Despite the situation, Elijah is the very picture of calm as he stands. Klaus nods and hauls Kol over his shoulder, ignoring his younger brother's pained gasp at the sudden, sharp movement.

"If I die today Niklaus, I'll be haunting your footsteps for eternity." Kol manages to get out as Elijah rolls his eyes.

"I don't doubt it Kol." Klaus replies evenly, if anything to get his younger brother to shut up for a minute or two.

"I'm serious." Kol wheezes. "This is your fault for getting me tangled into this mess."

"Enough." Elijah cuts in sharply. "Whether you like it or not Kol, we're family, and we stick together until the end."

She holds open the car door for Klaus, who deposits Kol into the back seat.

"You take the front. It's fine." Klaus directs towards her, frown writ across his face as he climbs into the back with Kol.

"Do you have someone that can help him?" Caroline asks under her breath to Elijah, just quiet enough that Kol won't be able to pick up her question.

Elijah's nod is reassuring, until his next sentence.

"We know some people, yes. Whether or not they'll be inclined to help is another matter entirely."

* * *

As it turns out, being a Mikaelson in New Orleans means something. At the very least, it means that Rebekah Mikaelson can strong arm witches into doing her bidding, even if it means threatening to end their entire line if they step out of bounds.

Rebekah is waiting for them when the SUV pulls up outside a non descript bar, and her face turns ashen when she takes one look at Kol being carried over Klaus' shoulder.

The sun has set in New Orleans, and the streets are strangely empty for such a busy city. She doesn't get much of a chance to view her surroundings before Elijah is steering her towards the house with a gentle hand on her back.

"What the hell happened?" She hears Rebekah hiss towards Elijah as an older woman opens the door for them. "And what the bloody hell is _she_ doing here?"

Caroline pretends not to hear the venom in the other girl's tone, resigning herself to the fact that she and Rebekah are probably never going to get along, whether she's in Klaus' life or out of it.

"Enough." Elijah warns his sister in low tones as the door closes behind them and they follow Klaus into the large lounge room.

The curtains are drawn, the room lit by candles as Klaus lays Kol out on the floor, the latter pretty much unconscious.

There are two women in room, and it's the younger that stares at all of them curiously.

"Davina, come and help me." The older woman orders, even as Elijah rolls up his sleeves and goes to offer his assistance.

Davina scurries to Kol's side, kneeling on the ground as the older woman turns her dark gaze on Klaus.

"Explain."

Klaus' expression darkens for a moment, not used to being ordered around by someone he considers subordinate to him.

She steps forward before Klaus decides to rip someone's throat out, a hand on his arm to hold him back.

The older woman, clearly a witch notes this with surprise but refrains from commenting, recognising that Klaus' temper is hanging by the thinnest of threads.

"We were ambushed by two quads when we stopped to rest just outside of New Orleans." She begins softly, watching as Davina uses a scalpel to cut into the skin of Kol's shoulder, reopening the wound that had closed over the bullet still lodged into his muscle.

Kol snarls at the Davina, who just presses him down again with a warning glare. Caroline has seen the type of damage that Bonnie can inflict on a vampire, and she didn't doubt that Davina would be exactly the same.

"One of them managed to hit Kol with a bullet, but he's not healing and we're not sure what it is."

"Elijah, hold down his legs please?" Davina asks of Elijah, who immediately complies, wrapping strong arms around Kol's ankles, even as Rebekah moves to Kol's head, smoothing down his hair with soft murmurs.

Davina makes a soft noise of victory, tweezers closed around the bullet as she holds it up to the light of one of the candles.

"Gloria, just like the others." Davina's voice is soft as she drops the bullet into a waiting tray.

"As fate would have it, you're not the first vampire to come to us in this predicament." Gloria's voice is deep and slow. "The quad's are using synthesized UV in their bullets now. It's a fast acting agent that can kill even the oldest of vampires."

Klaus looks troubled by this, exchanging a glance with Elijah. Davina continues to work over Kol, mixing something together in a liquid form before drawing it up with a syringe.

"Like liquid sunshine?" Caroline asks, feeling stupid for even voicing the thought out loud.

Gloria looks slightly amused by her answer, but confirms this with a nod.

Rebekah looks alarmed at the sight of the syringe, but Davina gives her something close to a reassuring smile, finding a vein on Kol's arm and injecting the contents into his body.

"This should counteract the effects of the UV." Davina explains to the room at large as Gloria stands and strides over to the window, twitching the curtains aside for a second.

Kol's whimpers turn to ones of relief as he lets out a long sigh, eyelids fluttering before his breathing evens out.

Gloria turns back to the rest of them, and she's surprised when the woman's eyes land on her.

"Why didn't you tell me that you walked with one who was marked by death Niklaus?" Gloria turns that dark gaze on Klaus, who glances between her and Gloria with barely concealed surprise.

Okay, that sounded a little ominous.

Klaus laughs, voice echoing around the space.

"She's a vampire Gloria. We're all creatures of death are we not?" Klaus replies, aiming for nonchalance and failing miserably.

"Don't play dumb Hybrid. You know of what I speak." Gloria replies sharply, even as Klaus shakes his head in denial.

"You're wrong. It can't be her." Klaus is practically growling now, his body bristling with anger.

"What are you talking about?" Caroline finally manages to get out even as Klaus and Gloria continue their odd little stand off. Gloria finally turns towards her, even as Klaus lets out another warning growl.

"You are young, but the power is undeniable. They call it Marchande du Mort little one, or dealer of death."

She can feel the whole room staring at her now, the expressions varied. Her whole throat has gone dry, her body reacting to the words, something strange blooming inside of her.

Gloria's gaze is dark as her lips curl into a smile.

"Oh yes little one. You're the one that we've been waiting for."

* * *

 **AN: And chapter 3 is done! This one has been bugging me for awhile, because I really needed to get Caroline to New Orleans before all of the shit started to go down.**

 **We'll find out what sort of power Caroline holds and what it might mean for her character moving forward next chapter. She won't be a witch though!**

 **So what did you all think? Are we sufficiently intrigued? There's gonna be a lot of world building in this one, so hope you're with me for the long haul!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: I do not own The Vampire Diaries or its characters. If I did, The Originals would never have happened, Kol would be alive and happily causing mayhem somewhere, and Klaus and Caroline would be travelling the world and sexing it up.**

* * *

When she'd been travelling to New Orleans on her own, after her mother had died and everything else in her life had gone to shit, she would wile away the long hours by imagining what Klaus' reaction would be to her finally turning up on his doorstep.

Would he surprised, or would he take her hand with that knowing smile, leading her up to his bedroom and undressing her slowly. Maybe it would have been quick and dirty, a release that both of them had been craving for years now.

Or maybe they would have met out on the street, the crowds parting for them, every nerve ending on her body knowing intrinsically that he was _there._

None of it matters now of course.

The room had gone completely and utterly silent after Gloria's confident pronouncement, the only sound being that of Klaus storming out of the space, a look of fury writ plain across his features.

Elijah had turned a calculating gaze on her, as if she was a piece of a puzzle that had just fallen into place for him, even if he's not quite sure what to do with the situation.

Rebekah just looked scared, and that was probably the most unsettling thing of all. She had never seen Rebekah display any sort of fear, as long as the older vampire had been around her.

She hadn't waited around for Gloria to elaborate, because whatever it was couldn't be good for her. Things involving witches never did turn out well for her.

She'd explored the mansion almost absentmindedly, meandering through rooms, running her fingers along fine wooden side tables, taking in the stunning artwork hung on the wall. The whole mansion, or at least what she saw of it was a testament to the Mikaelson's good taste. There was nothing tacky to be found here.

A lace curtain billowing in the gentle breeze catches her eye, and she crosses the room, pushing on the glass door next to it. She steps out onto a wrap around porch overlooking a courtyard, and the sight is achingly familiar.

Klaus had probably stood here a dozen times, looking out over the world that he'd built for himself and for his siblings, watching carefully for anyone who overstepped their bounds and overstayed their welcomes. It was the perfect place to survey a kingdom.

She drops to the ground with a sigh, threading her legs through the balcony, face pressing against cool metal.

"Well this is an odd way to take in the view I must say." Kol sounds amused, but doesn't comment further, instead seating himself beside her on the ground.

He looks pale and tired and in desperate need of blood, but he's got that permanently bemused expression on his face that is so characteristic of him.

"Are you feeling better?" She asks politely, still not quite sure where she stood with the youngest Mikaelson brother.

Kol _had_ saved her life, but he'd also snapped her neck and had been infuriatingly smug about it since.

"Much." Kol answers immediately. "Thanks for you know, not running away when things got heated." He adds reluctantly, like every word had been painful for him to say and admit out loud to her.

"I would never leave you to die if i could do anything to stop it."

Kol looks troubled, pressing his face against the metal, eyes casting out into the dark courtyard below.

"It's strange, to hear a vampire say that. Most would have run as fast and as far as they can."

"Maybe it's the human still in me. I am still young after all."

Kol turns his gaze towards her, a strange expression on his face.

"No I think it's something more than that. Have you ever heard of the term _Marchande du Mort_ before today?" Kol's French accent is perfect, his r's perfectly rolled. She shakes her head in amazement at the sound. Of course Kol would be fluent in French.

"Never. Baby vampire remember? Anything to do with vampire mythology and I'm lost."

Kol's lips twist into an amused smile, arms threading through the bars that make up the balcony, hands curling around the twists and turns of metal.

"Marchande du Mort is an old term, one as old as we are." Kol begins neutrally, even as she turns to glance at him. "As Gloria mentioned back inside, it means dealer of death, but not in the literal sense. I think that was more to warn anyone off than anything else."

"You seem quite knowledgeable on the subject." She points out, even as rain begins to fall on the tin roof, raindrops spattering on the ground far below them, thunder and lightning rumbling overhead.

"I liked books once I was turned. It was something that I never had access to when I was human. I was intrigued by the name and wanted to find out as much about it as I could." Kol replies with an errant shrug, hair falling messily into his eyes. "That was how I became fluent in French."

"But what does it even mean? Dealer of death? I'm not the Grim Reaper or anything am I?" Caroline tries not to let the panic overwhelm her, because she was so not here for supernatural bullshit.

Kol chuckles.

"No definitely not. From what I've read of the du mort you're certainly you're stronger than the average vampire. Perhaps it was why you were so easily able to deal with the solider that was trying to kill me." Kol remarks thoughtfully. "But I think the source of your power is L'arbiter."

"The arbiter?" Caroline asks hesitantly, Kol nodding in confirmation. "Like a judge?"

"Back in the 1400's, what was widely believed to be the first marchande du mort set up a vampire court in London. From there they established a rule over what was then known as England, dividing the counties up into vampire areas, installing vampires and werewolves to rule over each one."

"Like a kingdom?" She asks incredulously, because this is exactly the sort of thing that is right up Klaus' alley. "It wasn't Klaus was it?"

Kol's laughter is genuine this time, like he honestly believes the idea is incredulous.

"Good god of course not. The power vested in Marchande du mort is an ancient one, and one that we never really did understand. It seems to manifest in those that are worthy, rather than being passed to the oldest, the wisest, or the strongest. It happens in unexplained patterns, in vampires and werewolves. There's never more than one at a time. At the heart of their power, was the ability to pass judgement on members of the vampire and werewolf races that had broken the code."

She furrows her brow in confusion.

"The code? Like a set of laws or rules?"

"Correct. At it's most basic, the most essential rule was to never expose what we were to the humans. Beyond that there were rules about inflicting no more harm than was necessary on the humans. The Marchande was quite civilised." Kol recalls with a faint smile.

"But why was Klaus so mad about me being a marchande du mort? It's not like I'm exactly in a position to proclaim myself ruler of the vampiric and werewolf race. Nor do I want to, if it means that people are going to try and tear me to pieces." She points out to Kol.

There's a piece of the puzzle here, something that isn't quite fitting in to the story that Kol is weaving for her. As intriguing as it is, he's holding something back.

"Because he hunted them. He kept it quiet of course, only the closest of him knew of his vendetta against the marchande du mort. If it ever spread any further than his innermost circle it would have been enough to get him killed. Lover of chaos, destroyer of lives. That's what those around him used to say about him, worried that it would consume him."

"Because it would interfere with the power he held. That was why, wasn't it?"

Kol screws up his face, perhaps not wanting to reveal any more about his brother than he already had.

"Yes." Kol confirms, even as she crosses her arms over her chest, the rain increasing in it's steadiness beyond their little bubble.

Kol's body language is odd, and she's not really picking up what she's putting down. So she takes a stab in the dark, hoping that Kol will trust her enough to answer.

"I have to wonder though, why you seem so invested in." She begins quietly, crossing her legs, ready to make a quick getaway if needed. "Was there a woman? Someone that you loved?"

"Her name was Alexandria, named after The Great Library of Egypt. She was du mort for some time."

"But Klaus killed her."

"Yes." Kol confirms, voice soft and lilting. "And then he daggered me before I could raise a hand against him."

"But he's your brother. And you loved her." Caroline turns to him, taking note of the neutral expression on his face, betraying no hint of emotion positive or otherwise. "How do you not hate him?"

"Because he's my brother. And love…" Kol's lips twist unpleasantly. "Even love begins to lose meaning when you've been alive for as long as I have."

"I don't know if I could ever forgive him, if I were in your shoes." She remarks tentatively.

Kol just shrugs.

"He's my brother. That doesn't mean that I have to love him."

"Why are you telling me this? I thought you hated me." Caroline asks, voice dry from overuse, from the intensity of this conversation, from the information overload.

She didn't even know where to start, where to seek information about the marchande du mort, what it might mean for her, what it might mean for cooperation with the humans.

"No." Kol replies immediately, shaking his head as if to drive his point home. "I don't think I hate you. I don't like you much, but you helped save my life, and that's not something that I can easily forget."

Caroline sucks in a breath, startled by Kol's honestly, as blunt as it was. While she was under no illusions that she and Kol would ever be the best of friends, she had at least hoped they'd be able to get along with each other, even if it was for the sake of everyone else involved in this mess.

"For better or for worse Nik has always been like a hurricane. And somehow you've managed to temper him. I would rather not see you meet the same fate as Alexandria."

"Thanks I guess." She finally replies, even as Kol shoots her another bemused look before getting to his feet.

"Make sure you get some sleep. We'll be on the move soon, before they figure out we're here."

* * *

"Caroline."

The sound of her name, the voice that haunted her deepest desires and the worst of her nightmares floats out of the darkness behind her.

She twists her body, Klaus standing patiently before her with a hand held out towards her. She can only see his face, the rest of his body wreathed in shadow. How appropriate, given what she'd just learned.

 _Lover of chaos, destroyer of lives._

"Will you walk with me?" Klaus asks quietly, even as she nods silently, accepting his hand and pulling herself to her feet.

Klaus doesn't let go of her hand, and she sends a silent prayer up above that he doesn't notice how sweaty her palm is, doesn't notice how her pulse is practically leaping through her skin, heartbeat thundering in her ears. Such a human reaction, and one that he would look on with disdain.

Klaus leads her over to an alcove sheltered from the rest of the porch, practically invisible unless you walked right past it. The outdoor lounge was comfortable, practically swallowing her up as she sank down into it with a sigh. It felt so good to rest, to be safe.

Klaus drops his hand and turns his gaze away from her.

"Are you alright?" He asks quietly, even as she nods silently, wrapping her arms around her middle. It was a hard revelation to swallow, that she was supposedly the born again leader of the supernatural world, the one destined to bring everyone together, to unite them all against the humans that would destroy her.

Not Klaus, the King of New Orleans. Not Elijah, the Original almost as old as time itself. Her. Little Caroline Forbes, the baby vampire, the cheerleader from Mystic Falls.

"It's a lot to take in." She replies finally, angling away from him, even as he turns to stare at her.

"You're afraid of me." Klaus remarks dully eyes flicking over her, over her tense body language, the way she's protecting her abdomen from him.

"Do you blame me?" She asks, tongue darting out to lick her lips, voice whisper quiet. "Your brother just told me that you actively hunted every _marchande du mort_ before me, because they interfered with your power trip."

"I would never hurt you." Klaus promises, voice dipping low. The fact that he doesn't apologise tells her everything that she needs to know about the second part of her previous statement.

"You did once, a long time ago. When you were angry at me." She points out quietly, Klaus' face going dark at the memory.

He says nothing, makes no excuses for his past behaviour, knowing that nothing he says would be enough to make it right.

She'd almost forgotten about it actually, but it was good to tell him just how much he'd hurt her, both physically and emotionally.

"I came to New Orleans once." She blurts out suddenly, voice as harsh as a whip in the silence. Klaus' gaze snaps to her, eyes pinning her down as an incredulous look comes over his face.

"When?" He finally chokes out, tone laced with disbelief.

She closes her eyes briefly, knowing that she can't take those words back now that she's said them.

"It was after my mom died of cancer. And after I turned my humanity switch back on." She finally bites out, watching as Klaus' entire face transforms.

It's not pity, but it's something else. It scares her in a different way.

"You were with a woman. I thought it was your sister at first, but she was so unmistakably human." She continues recounting her short time in New Orleans quietly. "She was blonde, just like me. And I realised that even if I was ready to see what you could offer me, perhaps you weren't ready for me."

Klaus buries his face in his hands, shoulders heaving as he sucks in a breath.

"Who was she Klaus?" She continues her line of questioning softly, intentionally keeping her tone gentle, telling him that she wasn't angry.

"Her name was Camille O'Connell. She was a human, a bartender at one of the drinking holes in the Quarter. She became entangled with my family, and I found myself wanting to protect her."

"Why?" She asks, her voice like steel.

"Because she reminded me of you." Klaus admits frankly, turning to face her once more. "Because every time I looked at her, all I could see was you, and the life that I imagined that we might have together."

This was uncharacteristically honest, even for someone like Klaus, and it's enough to catch her off guard, not sure how much further she should push, if he'll even admit anymore about this mysterious Camille.

"Did you love her?"

"No." Klaus answers immediately, staring off into the distance. "I think she wanted me to, but I wasn't capable of it. There was too much going on."

"And what happened to her?"

"She died. She was killed by a rival faction some years ago, shortly after she was turned into a vampire."

"I'm sorry." She apologises immediately, even as Klaus shoots her an amused glance.

"I've always found it strange that humans are so quick to apologise for a death that was beyond their control, or not their fault."

"Not a human." She points towards herself, giving him a quick smile despite the heavy topic of their conversation. "It seems like the polite thing to do." She adds softly.

The silence stretches out between them, and she can tell that he's deep in thought, just like she is, her mind pondering all of this new information that she's been given, wondering what he wants her to do with it.

"What would it have been like, if you'd seen me that day?" Caroline asks quietly, twisting her hands together, not quite willing to meet his gaze.

"It would have been like nothing else mattered." Klaus replies immediately, totally confident in what he was saying. "I would have treated you like…"

"Like a Queen?" She replies teasingly, tone light, making fun of his self styled title.

"No." Klaus replies reaching out to grip her hand.

She stiffens, surprised by his answer. And then Klaus speaks again, and her heart skips a beat.

"Like an equal."

* * *

Lightning splits the sky outside her window, her world turning white for an instant before it plunges back into darkness. The balcony doors are thrown wide open, secured with a metal fastening to let in the cool air.

With the curtains billowing into the room, it almost seems like a scene from a movie, even as she lies on her back and stares at the ceiling, trying to reconcile her conversation with Klaus compared to her one with Kol.

It was something that she always struggled with, trying to forget all of the awful things that Klaus had done, even in the short time that she knew him. But really, what was half a year compared to a thousand?

There were so many things that she didn't know about him, that she probably would never find out about him unless she demanded he tell her. And even then, she wouldn't know if he was lying or if he would tell her the truth.

She closes her eyes, trying to feel any sort of hint of the power thrumming through her veins, of the spark that would tell her that she was different, that she was powerful.

Nothing.

Maybe the witch had been wrong, maybe it was someone else in the room that had the power instead.

But then again, the witch had looked right at her, seen right through her with eyes that spoke of horrors seen and lifetimes lived over again.

This power was hers, and no one else's, as long as she was deemed worthy.

Lightning flashes again, and she spots a silhouette sitting in the chair next to her bed. Watching her.

She opens her mouth to scream, but the shadow reaches her, clapping a well manicured hand over her mouth before she can make a sound. Lightning splits the sky again, and she falls silent when she recognises the familiar features.

At first glance it looks like Elena, but that can't be possible. Elena would never go anywhere without at least one of the Salvatore brother's by her side for protection. And Elena would never have the balls to sneak into a compound full of sleeping Original vampires, most of whom would shove a stake through her heart.

Elena didn't even know that she was in New Orleans.

Katherine Pierce backs away, placing a finger over her lips and motioning for her to be silent.

"Don't scream Caroline. No one will hear you, not as long as I carry this." Katherine waves a strange stone held in her hand, black as night. "I'm not here to hurt you." Katherine adds, perhaps sensing her distress, the way she's scrambled back away from the brunette vampire, trying to put as much distance between them as possible.

"Why are you here then?" She asks hoarsely, heart thundering in her ears even as Katherine cocks her head to the side, staring at her curiously.

"I'm here to help you Caroline."

* * *

 **AN: Aaand here is Chapter 4! Sorry it's taken so long.**

 **For those of you that don't follow me on Tumblr, or don't have a Tumblr, earlier this week I announced the status of several of my stories. Please don't worry, none of them are being abandoned. They will all be completed, but some stories will be taking priority over others at this point in time in terms of regular updates.**

 **This one will be first priority. In terms of the others…**

 **Up All Night** **Til** **The Sun (Spies AU)- Is currently on hold, until this story is mostly completed. The last chapter only got 8 or so reviews when the last chapter on this story got almost 20. I'm going to write what's more popular, and what you guys want, and at the moment this one seems to be it.**

 **Growing Strong (GOT AU)- Will take second priority in terms of updates. I'm not intending it to be a super long story in terms of chapter count, so am hoping that i can wrap up the story fairly quickly and focus on another.**

 **Miles to Go Before We Sleep (Marvel AU)- is also on hold, until I can get this and Growing Strong pretty much done**

 **If you have any questions about any of this at all, please don't hesitate to ask. As mentioned, all of the stories I write will always be completed. I don't abandon things halfway through, and don't plan on it.**

 **I hope you enjoyed Kol's backstory in this chapter! I really love Kol as you all know, and I adore writing him as much as i can. I was a little worried when mapping this out that he wouldn't have as big a part as i wanted him to, but it's turned out alright. I was always curious in canon as to why Klaus was so afraid of Kol. This is my take on it, the ultimate betrayal by Klaus and the reason why he kept Kol daggered for so long.**

 **What do you all think of the marchande du mort concept? Are you sufficiently intrigued? I know it might not make a whole lot of sense now, but I will endeavour to explain it more in the next chapter as well.**

 **Katherine makes an appearance- any ideas or theories as to why she might be there or what part she might play in the story? Would love to hear your thoughts and see if anyone picks it.**

 **Sorry for the super long authors note! I hope I haven't disappointed anyone by putting my other stories on hold, i want to make sure that you guys are getting regular updates from me rather than them being sporadic. Again, hope you all understand.**

 **See you for chapter 5, and keep an eye out for my two Klaroline smutmas dribbles coming your way on Tumblr! I'm xxafterthestormxx over there if you'd like to come and say hi.**

 **xx**


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: I do not own The Vampire Diaries or its characters. If I did, The Originals would never have happened, Kol would be alive and happily causing mayhem somewhere, and Klaus and Caroline would be travelling the world and sexing it up.**

* * *

As a little boy growing up, he'd never put much stock in stories about vampires and werewolves and witches. His late brother, older and most definitely not wiser, had always loved to terrify him with tales of blood sucking vampires and werewolves that would change at the coming of the full moon, wreaking death and destruction wherever they went.

Regardless of whether or not he'd put much stock in the stories, they'd still served to terrify him. As illogical as they were, as ludicrous as they seemed, he'd still huddled under the blankets, his nightlight bleeding through the fabric, his brother's laughter echoing in his ears. Hoping against hope that a vampire wouldn't come away and carry him into the night, that a werewolf wouldn't corner him on an abandoned road.

Even when he'd grown older, and recognised that his brother had kind of been an asshole about the whole thing, he still got nervous driving by himself at night down an unlit road.

The revelation of supernatural elements in this world was equal parts thrilling and terrifying, and a part of him was glad that his older brother wasn't alive to see the world go to shit.

Because it had, very quickly. The general population, already a very paranoid people, became even more so. It was easy enough for the President to introduce Martial Law, using executive power to do so. Curfews were imposed on every major city, and most of the smaller towns. The police were allowed the use of deadly force, and used it without discrimination.

Friends betrayed friends, neighbours betrayed neighbours. And for awhile, Thomas wasn't quite sure if the government was killing humans, or if they were killing supernaturals.

Most supernaturals, the vampires, the werewolves, were killed on the spot, often in front of humans and in increasingly gruesome ways. It was to send a message Kruschev always insisted, that the humans weren't to be bullied, to be terrorised, that we had ways to fight back if needed. That we needed to fight back, to eliminate every last vampire and werewolf from the planet if necessary.

Other supernaturals simply disappeared. They weren't necessarily killed, but he'd seen a few dragged kicking and screaming through their Chicago headquarters. Where they went he had no idea, and he's not sure that he wants to know. There had been whispers of experimentation on supernaturals among the organisation, and he'd noted this down with a sick feeling in his stomach.

In a perfect world, he would just do his job and bury his head in the sand if it meant that he was going to stay alive. Unfortunately, that was not an option in his case.

When he'd been 23 years old he'd meet Katherine Pierce. He'd had no fucking idea that she'd been a vampire, and he'd been absolutely enamoured. They'd had a relationship for almost two and a half years before Katherine had revealed herself to him, and he'd been both turned on and terrified by her ever since.

Of course, that was after he found out that she was a manipulative bitch along with being a vampire. He hadn't said anything, and he never would. Not while she was still alive, and not while she still had him in her sights.

She liked to drop in periodically. Just to chat she'd claimed, but he knew it was something more than that. She never did hurt him, never even made any sort of threats towards him, never laid a hand on him.

Of course, her motives had become clear as soon as the SRA had been formed. He had no idea if she'd had prior knowledge, but given how old she was, he didn't doubt that she'd made friends in high places, friends that were in the government and weren't necessarily in agreement with Kruschev and The President.

And that was how he found himself working for Katherine Pierce, as a double agent also in the employ of the SRA. It was easy enough to feed her information as he found it out, to keep her ahead of the people that were actively trying to hunt her down, and others that she knew.

"Sanders!" An accented voice barks, jolting him awake as he looks around blearily. The man in front of him sighs, and Thomas rubs at his eyes, looking down at his screen to avoid that steely gaze.

Dimitri Kruschev, the director of the Supernatural Resistance Agency, never calls anyone by their first name if he can avoid it. An odd quirk left over from his time serving in the army perhaps, along with the drill sergeant voice that he employs on a daily basis.

Kruschev rose through the ranks of the Marines, finally reaching the level of a 4 star general, the first non American to do so. Thomas didn't know a whole lot about Kruschev, the other preferring to keep a tight lid on anything to do with his private life, but he did know that Kruschev was born, and for the most part raised in Russia before his parents emigrated to America.

Apart from that, he was in the dark. And he knew that Kruschev liked it that way. Likewise, Thomas had risen through the ranks of the CIA, and his previous position had been as a head analyst before he'd been handed this role (and a nice pay packet), on a silver platter. He hadn't turned it down, but some days he wished he had.

Especially when it came to Katherine Pierce.

Thomas finally turns his gaze to Kruschev, noting the odd look on the older man's face. He'd put Kruschev in his 50's easily, but he didn't doubt that the man was in peak physical condition.

"Are you okay Sanders? You look like shit." Kruschev notes, pulling a file out from where it had been previously tucked beneath his arm.

Thomas leans back in his chair and crosses his arms over his chest.

"Haven't been sleeping as well as I should be. It's not a big deal." He finally settles for replying with, knowing that that was the excuse that would resonate the most with Kruschev, the ex Marine knowing very well how shitty one could feel with minimal amounts of sleep.

"God, I've been there. Come in a bit later tomorrow if you have to okay? I want you at your best." Kruschev remarks, coming around to stand behind him and clapping him on the shoulder.

Thomas refrains from flinching.

"It's fine, really. I'll have to double my coffee tomorrow, but it's Friday, so hopefully it'll be quiet over the weekend. What's in the file?" He asks, even as Kruschev drops it onto his desk.

"I had an approach yesterday from someone claiming that they could help us out with some information. I'd like you to run a background check, see if they're legitimate. I don't want to waste my time if she's just bullshitting us."

Thomas frowns, fingers tapping against the folder. Tip offs and information from the general population were completely normal, and they got hundreds a day. There was even a dedicated team a floor up that was responsible for mining through all of the phone calls and emails, determining what was legitimate and what was just a case of an overly paranoid neighbour.

"You've never asked me to do a background check on a potential informant before. Why now?" He can't help but question, his curious nature winning out over keeping his mouth shut and just doing his job.

Kruschev steps away from his desk, heading for the door.

"Because this one is claiming that she's a witch. And a very powerful one at that. I want to know exactly what we're getting ourselves into before I set up a meeting with her."

Thomas blinks in surprise, still caught off guard by the mention of things that should have stayed in a storybook. Things that shouldn't exist, like witches and magic. He flexes his fingers, tapping at his keyboard to bring the monitor to life. He didn't doubt that he'd be able to run a quick background check on whoever it was Kruschev wanted to meet with.

And the older man wanted this to happen desperately, even he wasn't blind to the fact that their efforts to capture any of The Original Vampires, let alone Caroline Forbes, had always ended in bloodshed and carnage. Two of their best Quads had been obliterated, and Kruschev had been working overtime with the labs downstairs, trying to make them stronger, faster, _better._

"What's her name?"

Kruschev pauses at the doorway, looking down at his phone briefly.

"Bonnie Bennett. Find out everything that you can about her. Perhaps she'll be willing to help us locate The Originals."

* * *

Caroline blinks away the darkness as Katherine saunters over to the armoire, switching on a lamp. Soft, golden light bathes the room, chasing away the last of the shadows.

"What are you doing here?" Caroline asks, trying to keep her voice steady.

Like Klaus, Katherine had been like a spectre, hovering on the periphery of her dreams and her nightmares, the one person responsible for her vampirism, even if it had been Damon's blood that turned her.

She'd been conditioned to fear Katherine, and she can't help but feel her body responding to the overwhelming presence of the other vampire, who's tucked herself away into the corner of the room, still holding the strange stone in her hand, leaning up against the wall with her arms crossed over her chest.

"It seems that you've got yourself into a bit of trouble." Katherine replies with a wicked smile, lips curling into something resembling a smirk. She never had been good at reading Katherine, the other vampire far too good at masking her emotions. The first and only time that she'd thought that she'd bested Katherine had been at the masquerade ball, where she'd drawn the other vampire into the room in an attempt to let the Salvatore brothers kill her. In reality, Katherine was already two or three steps ahead.

She didn't doubt that Katherine had lost that particular quality of self preservation over the past few years.

"Cut the bullshit Katherine, whatever suicide mission you've got going, I don't want any part in it." Caroline remarks tiredly, running a hand through her hair. "And you and I both know that if you lay a finger on me Klaus will never stop chasing you."

Katherine tilts her head back and laughs throatily.

"Oh I think we both know that his issues with you aside, Klaus has far more to worry about than chasing after me. He's public enemy number one right now, and as long as he can still draw breath from his lungs, the humans won't stop coming after him. And you by association." Katherine says with a shrug.

"Why do they even want us? The humans? What have we done to them that they would want us all exterminated like animals?" Caroline asks, wrapping her arms around her legs, hugging her knees to her chest.

Katherine just sighs, picking at her fingernails, and Caroline's a little amazed that the stone in Katherine's hand seems to be working, because there's no way that she could have snuck into a compound of sleeping Original vampires otherwise.

At least not with Klaus and Kol ripping her heart from her chest or at the very least busting down the currently locked door of her bedroom. A part of her can't help but wonder just how safe she really is with The Original brothers.

"Whether you want to admit it or not, we're monsters." Katherine says simply. "You, me, Klaus, even precious, innocent Elena. We go against the very nature of what humanity is. We've lived in the shadows, on the fringes of civilisation for so long, but now we're a direct threat to public order. How would you react?" Katherine asks, and Caroline's not quite sure if it's a rhetoric question or not.

"They could at least try and talk to us."

"They fear us because they don't know us." Katherine replies softly. "To them, we're monsters, and we haven't done anything to prove them otherwise. Not with the Originals tearing their way through most of the significant historical events of the past ten centuries."

Caroline blinks at that pronouncement, realising that Katherine was actually right. Klaus and his siblings had never hid the fact that they had shed the blood of humans in the past.

"You still haven't told me why you're here. Stop deflecting." She says directly to Katherine, who gives her an amused smile.

"I'm sure someone has given you the rundown already, but you're incredibly valuable Caroline. The humans don't know about the concept of Marchande Du Mort yet, but they will soon I hope. Believe it or not, there are some of us out there that actually want peace."

Caroline snorts incredulously.

"You seriously expect me to believe that you want peace? You terrorised the citizens of Mystic Falls and my friends for months before we finally put you down. And now you seriously want me to believe that you want to make peace with the humans?"

"Times change Caroline. If compromising with humans means that I get to stay alive for another few decades, I'll take it over a full blown supernatural war."

Caroline scoffs, hardly surprised by Katherine's pronouncement.

"Of course, it's always about self preservation with you, isn't it? What do you even want Katherine?"

"I want you." Katherine replies immediately. "I want you to come with me. I have friends that can help us with negotiations with the humans if needed. You can save us all Caroline."

Caroline climbs to her feet, hands balled into fists at her sides.

"I'm not going anywhere with you. And what the hell is that stone?" She snaps at Katherine, gesturing to the strange black stone that Katherine is still clutching in her hand.

Katherine's lips quirk into a smile.

"It's a witch stone. It means that anything we talk about can't be overheard by anyone else-"

The door to her bedroom is kicked open, and Klaus appears on the threshold, a murderous expression writ across his features.

Even knowing Klaus as well as she does, it doesn't take a genius to figure out that Klaus is _pissed off._ Like, really pissed off.

He moves quickly, too quickly for her to detect, wrapping a hand around Katherine's throat and slamming her up against the wall. The witch stone falls from Katherine's hand, clattering against the wooden floor, filling the room with sound.

Kol strides into the room after Klaus, vampire features evident as he blurs over to her balcony and disappears beyond the glass doors.

Caroline notes the sound of a scuffle, and then Kol is reappearing, slamming another, male vampire onto his back.

"Enzo?" She asks incredulously, even as Enzo uses whatever remaining breath he has to snarl at Kol, who returns the sentiment in kind. "What the hell are you doing here with her? Have you gone insane?"

"Hello gorgeous." Enzo manages to get out, shooting her a reassuring grin despite their current situation.

"You know him Caroline?" Kol glances in her direction as Elijah enters the room calmly, assessing the situation in an instant as he bends down to pick up the witch stone at his feet.

"Katerina. I would be most interested to know how you managed to enter this compound undetected." Elijah begins, tossing the stone up in the air and catching it. His expression is deadly, his tone matching it, and Caroline feels a shiver down her spine.

 _This_ was the Elijah that people both respected and feared in equal measures. This was the Elijah that had terrified the Salvatore brothers, that had chased Katherine across the world for over 500 years.

This was a man not to be messed with, and if the expression on Katherine's face was anything to go by, she knew it as well.

Elijah turns towards Kol, who has his boot pressed against Enzo's throat, crushing his windpipe with a sadistic smirk on his face.

"Enough Kol." Elijah pronounces, and Kol steps away from Enzo, allowing him to sit up as his crushed throat begins to heal itself over. The look that Enzo shoots Kol is one of pure hatred, but for the most part Kol looks largely unconcerned, instead choosing to shoot her an amused glance.

Klaus presses his body up against Katherine's, the two almost standing nose to nose as Katherine shakes beneath Klaus' grip around her throat. Katherine was terrified, an emotion she never thought she'd see from the other woman.

"My brother, and your forthcoming explanation is the only thing keeping you alive." Klaus remarks quietly, tone almost conversational as he finally, finally releases his grip, Katherine slumping and clawing at her throat as he steps away from her dismissively.

Klaus doesn't look her way as he comes to settle next to her, but she can practically feel the heat radiating from his body as he seats himself on her bed like he belongs there.

"Perhaps we should move this downstairs to a more suitable location." Elijah finally pronounces, slipping the witch stone into the pocket of his sweatpants.

It's odd, to see Elijah so dressed down, the other Original usually impeccably dressed in a suit and tie.

Klaus' shoulder knocks against hers as Kol manhandles Enzo towards the door and out into the hallway, Elijah following his younger brother with a hand wrapped carefully around Katherine's wrist.

She can't help but glance in Klaus' direction, and while he doesn't smile at her, the expression on his face is one of reassurance, and despite everything she can't help but feel calm in his presence.

For all the horrible things that Klaus had done, he would protect her until his dying breath. The thought terrified her before, when she was younger and more naive, when she thought the friends she had in Mystic Falls were the ones that would be around forever.

But now… now she'd long accepted that Klaus would be in her life in some capacity. She was just trying to figure out in what way.

* * *

"I don't understand why the witchstone didn't work." Katherine begins, slumping against the wall closest to the door (read, escape route), and folding her arms over her chest.

Klaus settles onto the leather couch, a smug expression on his face as he glances over at Katherine.

"We took certain precautions with some things when we established ourselves in this residence. Certain elements of magic are impossible to perform within the compound. It would seem that your witchstone falls quite definitively into that category."

"What the hell is she doing here?" A voice sounds from the hallway as Rebekah Mikaelson comes storming into the room, stopping just short of launching herself at Katherine, Kol no doubt having guessed her intentions as he moves to subdue her.

Katherine looks uncomfortable at the appearance of Rebekah, but she might also be able to chalk it up to the fact that Elijah and Enzo excepted, everyone else seemingly has a very good reason for wanting to kill her.

"Calm yourself Rebekah." Elijah reprimands as he hands a drink to Katherine, his fingers brushing against the brunette's.

Katherine gives him a secret smile, and Caroline can't help but note the interaction with interest.

"Is there something between the two of you?" She blurts out before she can stop herself.

Kol looks utterly delighted by her question, Klaus also amused if the expression on his face was anything to go by. Rebekah just glares at Katherine, the other woman responding in kind.

Elijah looks slightly uneasy at her question, but clears his throat as he turns towards her.

"Katerina and I have… history." Elijah replies delicately, not willing to reveal anything else to her.

"Let's return to the matter at hand shall we? Like why you decided to break into a house full of Original vampires." Klaus smoothly steers the conversation away from Elijah, directing his gaze towards Katherine.

Caroline sits close to Klaus, wrapping her arms around her knees as Katherine lets out a wearied sigh.

"Look, I'm not here to cause any trouble or to piss anyone off. But a few years ago, I fell in with a group of vampires living in New York City. The leader of their coven believed that the Marchande Du Mort was somewhere out there, and that we had a duty to help him or her in any capacity that we could." Katherine pauses for breath, glancing around the room as if to gauge their reactions.

"I find it hard to believe that you would be willing to follow someone else so blindly." Kol remarks with a sneer as Katherine shoots him a filthy glare. "You did run from my brothers for almost 500 years, caring about no one but yourself along the way."

"In case you missed the memo, your brothers wanted to kill me." Katherine shoots back, swirling her drink in her hand. "Of course, not that you were overly involved give you were leaving a trail of bodies all over Asia at the time."

"God I'm already bored. Can you just cut to the chase before I do something drastic?" Rebekah almost whines.

For once, Caroline agrees with the blonde Mikaelson.

"Look believe me or not, but I'm in the party that firmly wants to make nice with the humans. I want the head of the SRA dead, and the organisation disbanded, but I don't want to spend the rest of my already miserable experience being scared of people that are below us on the food chain."

"I actually agree with you." Kol remarks, looking surprised at himself as his siblings all turn to stare at him. "About the not being scared of humans." Kol clarifies hastily even as Elijah considers this.

"And you believed that kidnapping Caroline would be the best method to achieve this Katerina?" Elijah asks politely, turning that steely gaze on Katherine, who just shudders and knocks back her drink.

"I forgot how much I hate being in the same room as you guys. You're all so dramatic." Katherine remarks, even as Enzo snorts with silent laughter from where he's leaning up against the back wall.

Caroline had almost forgotten that he was there, and turns to face him.

"What the hell are you even doing here Enzo? I thought you were over in England."

Enzo flashes her a quick smile, teeth white in the darkness. His voice is raspy when he answers, no doubt a side effect of Kol's earlier strangulation during their tussle.

"I ran into Katherine in New York. We had mutual acquaintances there at the time, and when she mentioned that she was coming to see you I had to come along of course, to see if you're alright. Although from what I can see, you seem to be managing just fine. Interesting company you're keeping these days gorgeous."

Klaus stiffens from where he's sitting next to her, his expression thunderous.

"Be careful how you speak to her." Klaus directs towards Enzo, who shrugs nonchalantly.

"Klaus it's fine. He's an old friend from Mystic Falls. Have you heard from the Salvatores at all?" She asks of Enzo, who reluctantly nods, glancing at Klaus uneasily.

"Stefan has taken Damon and Elena north into Alaska until all of this blows over. They'll be fine." Enzo promises her, even as she mulls this plan over in her head.

Alaska was one of the most sparsely populated places in Canada, and also the biggest. While she didn't doubt that Stefan and Damon could take care of themselves and Elena, anyone new arriving would be automatically seen as suspicious. Regardless of where they went, they would have to be careful.

It was a smart plan, but it would have been nice if Stefan could have picked up the phone and called her, even if it was just to check in and see if she was okay.

"So you want me to come with you to New York." Caroline deduces, turning back towards Katherine, who nods silently as a way of reply.

"At least come and meet my coven. We'll be able to start planning from there." Katherine promises, her tone surprisingly sincere.

"And what were your plans after this?" Caroline asks of Elijah, who glances at her in surprise.

"I was going to take you North to Chicago, to meet some friends of mine, decide on a course of action- whether we stay or flee the country."

"Oh trust me, you don't want to be anywhere near Chicago if you can avoid it." Katherine supplies, as the entire room turns back to her.

"And why not?" Rebekah asks, tone unpleasant.

A part of her wonders at the history between Rebekah and Katherine, what could possibly make Rebekah hate the other woman so much.

"Chicago is heavily fortified. I'm talking curfews, concrete walling, extra security and screening. It's where the SRA are headquartered. Chicago is almost a vampire free city now. I highly doubt your friends would be there, if they're even still alive."

"It would seem the decision is up to you then sweetheart. New York or Chicago?" Klaus nudges her gently with an elbow, and she can't help but stare at him for a long moment.

"What would you do?" She whispers, as Klaus' face softens. He reaches out, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.

"It's not something that's up to me. Not anymore. Whatever you choose, I'll be with you all the way." Klaus says in a low voice, hand dancing gently over her shoulder.

Caroline turns back to Katherine, noting the raised eyebrows of the other woman, the way that Katherine is looking at Klaus, like she finally _understands_ something.

"Looks like we're going to New York then. But if you're screwing around with me, I will not stop these guys from ripping your heart out." Caroline holds Katherine's gaze, who nods.

"Excellent!" Kol pronounces loudly, clapping his hands together once. "I always do love a good road trip. Come Bekah, lets go and pack some weapons."

Klaus just sighs from next to her, undoubtedly used to his brother's exuberance in moments like this.

And honestly? A part of her has to wonder exactly what she's getting herself into.

* * *

 **A/N: Apologies for the wait on this one guys! If you guys follow me over on Tumblr, you know that I've been struggling big time with writers block lately, and I've just been feeling uninspired by my multi chapters in general.**

 **At this point i'm just going to go with the flow, and write whatever story is inspiring me the most. Apparently this week it was this one.**

 **So I know not a whole lot happens in this one, but I wanted to throw in the POV of Thomas Sanders (seen briefly in email format in the very first chapter) to get a different perspective on the human side of things. Of course, Thomas has some interesting connections to our** **Scooby** **gang. Nothing ever is easy in this universe!**

 **Were you guys expecting that reveal with Bonnie?**

 **I actually had planned to have Stefan in this, but it's gotten to the point where I absolutely hate what he's become on the show, and I can't even stomach writing his friendship with Caroline anymore. He's in Alaska until I decide if I want to include him in this!**

 **Katherine wants Caroline to come with her to New York, and Caroline has reluctantly agreed. Only time will tell if Katherine is actually being genuine or if she has ulterior motives. Katherine also has a mission of her own- to kill Dimitri Kruschev, the head of the SRA organisation.**

 **The gang will run into some trouble along the way of course, Originals and Katherine Pierce are never a good combination.**

 **At the moment I'm working on the next chapter of Up All Night Til The Sun, so hopefully i'll be able to update that soon!**


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer: I do not own The Vampire Diaries or it's characters. If I did, The Originals would never have happened, Kol would be alive and happily causing mayhem somewhere, and Klaus and Caroline would be travelling the world and sexing it up.**

* * *

 **"** Well." Rebekah pronounces with a delicate sniff, glancing around the abandoned hotel with barely concealed disdain. "This is not creepy, at all."

Kol looks delighted at his sister's discomfort, and steps up next to the blonde Original, slinging a companionable arm around her shoulders.

"Come now Bekah, we have slummed it in worse places." Kol pronounces with great relish. "And even you have to admit it's a step up from being stuck in a coffin with a dagger in your heart." Kol throws a suspicious glance over his shoulder at Klaus, who lets out a barely audible sigh from behind her.

"Only slightly." Rebekah shoots back, crossing her arms over her chest and tapping a booted foot impatiently against the floor. "You never did tell us why we are here."

Katherine just rolls her eyes, knocking her shoulder into Rebekah's as she passes. Rebekah snarls at Katherine, and Caroline has to marvel at the composure the younger vampire displays despite the circumstances.

"Enough Katerina. Rebekah." Elijah raises his voice only slightly, but it's enough to shut Rebekah up.

New York is not what she expected. She'd been here before of course, in the days before the SRA had become such a guiding force in the country. She thought that she would fall in love with the city, with the constant hustle and bustle.

Instead, it had put her on edge, threatened to suffocate her with the amount of heart beats and the smell of blood everywhere she went.

There was a darker side to New York, as she quickly discovered, a hidden underbelly known only to the supernatural. Vampire clubs where you could feed on humans freely, every blood type currently registered freely available.

She'd only been once, and had never gone back again. She'd hated the vacant and haunted look in the eyes of the human feeders, unable to tell if they were there willingly or if there was some sort of trafficking ring going on.

And of course, New York was where she had ran into Klaus again.

It was funny, that she happened to be in one of the busiest places in the city when she saw him again for the first time in twenty years. She'd been in Times Square, waiting for the lights to change.

It was that prickling sensation, the hairs standing up on the back of her neck that told her that she was being watched, and probably not by someone who was friendly to her. She'd hitched the strap of her purse a little higher on her shoulder, prepared to ward off a human pick pocket or mugger.

She'd tilted her head to the side slightly, hearing _his_ chuckle float above the cacophony of sound.

She'd only caught a glimpse of him, enough to see that the passing of time had treated him well. Ruling it seemed, suited him. Just as he mentioned that it would, during their time together in the woods in Mystic Falls, when she'd let him pull her into his arms, breathless, sweat cooling on her body as he'd traced invisible shapes into her back.

He'd been insatiable, and she'd been only too willing to oblige him on that particular occasion, believing it would be the first and last time that they would be together in that nature.

Of course, fate always had a way of screwing with her in the most twisted of ways.

She'd been checking out one of the dive bars in Brooklyn, listening to the live band somewhat absentmindedly as she tapped her fingers against the wooden bar top. There was an almost full beer in front of her, and she couldn't bring herself to drink it, as foul as it was.

Even just eyeing off the rows of bottles sitting behind the bar, she could tell that there was nothing here that would cater towards her tastes.

Then of course, _he_ slides onto the bar stool next to her, darkness draped in black as he motions to the bartender with a crook of his finger. It's odd to watch the magnetism rolling off him in waves as he talks to the bartender, almost like she's witnessing the invisible string of compulsion between Klaus and the completely oblivious human.

It's not until she's eyeing off the glass of whiskey in his hand with barely concealed jealously that Klaus turns towards her, gaze revealing nothing as his eyes sweep over her, lips curling into a smile.

"Hello sweetheart."

And that had been that.

When she reflects back on it, it was probably one of the more normal nights that she'd ever spent with a guy, far more used to teenage dates like dinner and a movie, or even netflix and sex.

She didn't tell him that she'd thought about him when she'd visited Rome, Paris, Tokyo, or that she missed him more than she wanted to admit to herself. Because that would be kind of _pathetic._ Especially after he'd promised to leave and never come back.

Instead they'd talked, and when the live band had cleared out she'd challenged him to a game of snooker, thinking it would be the one thing that she could probably best him at. Klaus had agreed with a secret smile, picking up his glass and draining it before motioning for two more.

She had lost in spectacular fashion, because _of course_ Klaus had been good at snooker along with everything else, ever.

It had been sort of surreal, to see the big, bad Hybrid indulge in something so decidedly human, but Klaus had been nothing but a gentlemen for the entire night, and this continued when he had offered to walk her back to the place where she was staying.

She had made the first move. She'd had to, because Klaus was still Klaus, and although he was kind of a dick he was also a gentlemen. And he had made a promise.

They'd fallen into bed together, and they'd blood shared, which was enough to have her fleeing the next morning before he woke up.

Something between them had changed after that night, an intimacy that hadn't been there before. Blood sharing was a big deal with vampires, something usually only done between lovers or partners as Damon had told her once a very long time ago. She'd known that he and Elena had done it a few times, could always tell when they had, if the happy and content look on Elena's face had been anything to go by.

But that morning as she'd tried to silently collect her things and she'd looked back at Klaus, she'd felt frightened at the depth of emotions that she'd felt, happiness and euphoria and a deep contentment, a knowledge that something was right in the world.

And what was the most terrifying was that deep down, she knew that the emotions that she was feeling weren't her own.

They were Klaus'.

And the depth of his feelings, the enormity of the realisation that had hit her all at once, had terrified her.

And so she ran.

* * *

Lips, burning a scorching trail down her throat and between the valley of her breasts, rough stubble scratching against her heated and flushed skin.

Bark digging into her back, leaves tangling in her hair with each thrust bordering on pleasure and pain as his necklaces dig sharply into her chest, leaving behind imprints on her skin that she knew would be there for hours after.

Talented fingers, rubbing where they're joined, his hands, marking her, branding her, having little care for the air she's trying to squeeze into her lungs.

Bruises already blooming on his skin, her skin, where they'd gripped a little too tightly, gripped a little too hard as limbs had tangled together.

And bliss, pleasure cresting over her in waves, her eyes flying open as she's pulled from sleep with gasp and a sigh.

Caroline looks around the dark room which Katherine had lead her to earlier, searching for _something,_ wondering if he's messing with her dreams or something ridiculous like that.

Vampires having extra powers wasn't unheard of, she well remembered Elena's tales of Damon when he'd first come to Mystic Falls, haunting her footsteps with mist and a crow. Although Damon had loved the theatrics, he'd very rarely used his powers, only in the greatest of emergencies.

It wouldn't surprise her, if Klaus could walk in people's dreams, haunt and invade their nightmares. And if it was true that he had this power, he had no qualms in using them whenever he desired.

She casts her hearing outwards, beyond the four walls of her room, relaxing when she hears no dark chuckle curling around her senses, no indication that this had been Klaus' fault.

She's not exactly sure if that made things better or worse.

It's on shaky feet that she stands, reaching for the jacket on the foot of her bed, one that Klaus had draped around her shoulders when they'd first gotten to this place. He hadn't said a word and she'd followed his lead, pulling the leather tightly around her body as Katherine had directed her towards a musty bedroom where she could get a bit of respite before moving onwards to meet the coven.

It smells like him, pine and sandalwood and something else that she can't quite place, and it's almost nothing for her to pull her arms through the sleeves, before she pushes open the door to her balcony, cold air biting at her face.

They were up high, in a high rise building in a less populated part of town. Nevertheless, Katherine vowed that it was safe, but how much credence was there to her words really?

To her surprise, she's not alone, Enzo already gazing out over the city, at the sky lightening just over the horizon. He turns his head when he sees her, in acknowledgement of her presence as he stares at her for a long moment.

"I never thought I'd see you running around with the Original family." Enzo's voice is low, his tone devoid of accusation. It's not a question, not even a statement, more of an observation, really.

"Do you have a problem with that?" She asks lightly as she steps forward, hands curling around the railing of the balcony that had once probably been glass. Most of it had shattered now, and she takes great care to find a patch of ground that didn't have shards scattered across it.

Enzo lets out a short bark of laughter.

"Of course not. They're a bunch of sanctimonious assholes, but if they keep you safe that's all that matters." He pronounces matter of factly. "That's all I've ever wanted, when it comes to you."

She's surprised by his answer, so used to being judged by people close to her, for making choices that naturally drew the disdain of others, Elena and Damon most of all, who had the most reason to hate The Originals.

The moment that she had stopped living the life that Elena had expected her to live and started living for herself had been the most freeing moment of her life. She hadn't looked back, she and Elena falling out of touch long ago.

"Although I have to say that I'm a little surprised to see Klaus so gone for you. When did that happen?" Enzo asks curiously. "During Mystic Falls, or after?"

"He is not gone for me." She hisses towards him as Enzo raises a single eyebrow. "We became acquainted while I was in high school. Shortly after I'd been turned."

"Yes he is gone for you. That one would burn this world to ashes if it meant holding onto you. Why are you denying it?" Enzo replies with a tilt of his head.

She pauses for a long moment, hands flexing around the balcony railing as she sucks the cold New York air into her lungs.

"You know why." She murmurs to Enzo, trying to mask her voice within the howling of the wind. No conversation is ever private when you live and travel with vampires, especially powerful ones like Klaus and his siblings. But this was something she wanted to bury, something she didn't want to share with the rest of their group.

"Ah." He pronounces delicately, saying nothing else. For that, she is grateful, that Enzo was still so intuitive to her thoughts and emotions even after all this time.

She steps closer to him, resting a heavy head against his shoulder as he wraps an arm around her waist. Their friendship had always been so easy, so comfortable, Enzo serving as both best friend and protector in the decades that they'd known each other.

He'd drifted in and out of her life during various periods of time, but the beauty of their relationship had meant that they'd always been able to pick up right where they left off, without the need for akwkward recap or an overly detailed rehashing of their lives.

"I'm glad you're here, for what it's worth." She tells him truthfully, shivering a little even under Klaus' leather jacket still draped around her shoulders, cocooning her from the elements. "Even if it is with the she devil."

Enzo's grin is a flash of white in the darkness, so quick she would have missed it had she blinked in that moment.

"Happy to be here, love. You know I'm always here for you, no matter what. You've always known that." He tells her, hand squeezing her waist oh so briefly.

She'd briefly considered a fling with Enzo a long time ago, back when they'd been hazy on tequila in Mexico, clothes sticking to them thanks to the humidity in the air.

He'd seemed different to her, as he'd twirled her around in the salsa club, the heavy throb of the latin music pulsing through her veins. There'd been a certain darkness in his eyes that hadn't been there before, and his hands had been scorching through the thin fabric of her dress as they'd moved together effortlessly across the dance floor.

Her mind had wandered, wondering if it would be as effortless if they were to fall into bed with each other. She'd curled her hand around the back of his neck, bringing their foreheads together as she'd breathed out sharply.

It was Enzo that had moved in, lips hovering tantalisingly close to hers, hovering like a question mark, waiting for her to answer with her body. She'd turned her head to the side as he'd moved closer, and his lips had landed on her neck, pressing oh so lightly as he'd smiled into her skin.

The change between them was slight, but noticeable as Enzo had backed off respectfully, adhering to her silent and unspoken wish to not take things further.

Since then, they'd been nothing but the best of friends.

She feels Enzo stiffen beside her for a moment, notes the uptick of his heart beat as she turns her head to see what had disturbed him so.

Klaus steps forward silently, boots not making a noise despite the debris scattered around the balcony, evidence of a raid gone wrong.

"I need a moment with Caroline." Klaus begins calmly, eyes moving past her, instead landing on Enzo. He doesn't ask for permission, doesn't request politely.

If the way Enzo defers to him with a nod, hand brushing through her hair, he doesn't need to ask permission.

Klaus stays rooted in place, head cocked to the side as he listens to Enzo walk away. Only when he's certain that the other vampire has left the vicinity does he move forward to stand next to her, propping his hip up against the railing, paying no mind to the dizzying height that they find themselves at.

He notes the presence of his jacket around her shoulders with a curl of his lips, smirk apparent for a split second.

"What do you want?" She asks coolly, hands balled into fists at her side as her body tenses at his presence.

"I thought I would come and check on you. As I was retiring I couldn't help but hear that you were having a rather interesting dream. Care to share what was bothering you?" Klaus asks lightly, arms crossed over his chest as he stares at her.

 _He knows._

She realises this in split seconds, a flush overtaking her skin at the realisation that he knew exactly what she was dreaming of.

"You're an arse." She spits out between gritted teeth, taking a step forward and pushing him in the chest. "You have no right to mess with my dreams." She pushes at him again, and he catches her wrists in his hands, almost squeezing tight enough to bruise.

It was a warning, plain and simple, to not touch him again.

Klaus bends down to her height, and they're almost nose to nose as his gaze seems to pin her to the spot.

"While I do have the power to walk through your dreams, I didn't on this particular occasion." Klaus' voice dips low, his accent enunciating each word carefully to ensure that she would hear him loud and clear. "I would never do so without your permission. But thank you for confirming that your subconscious was thinking of me."

Every inch of her body is screaming at her to take a step back, to put some distance between them, his presence as commanding and as intoxicating as ever as his grip loosens around her wrists, thumbs swiping soothingly over the veins in her wrist as her heartbeat thunders in her ears.

"I did wonder why you were content to lose yourself in the arms of human men after we parted ways, why you wanted to forget what happened between us, that first time." Klaus remarks conversationally, hand reaching out to cup her face, tilting her face up towards his as he steps closer still, hips pinning her between his body and the railing.

She looks up, up, meets his gaze as his eyes darken.

"Tell me love, did they ever please you like I did? Did you ever feel satisfied, sated, filled?" His breath fans over her cheek and she squeezes her eyes shut briefly, trying to calm the thundering of her heart, the organ betraying her.

"You never came back." She whispers into the space between them, watching as a surprised look takes over his features.

"You made it very clear that you didn't want me to come back sweetheart. That was the deal wasn't it?"

Her tongue darts out to lick her lips, the confession heavy on her tongue as his gaze bores into her, stripping away another layer of her soul. It had always been like that with him, every nerve ending in her body electrified, skin on fire wherever he touched.

He'd burrowed in underneath her skin so completely, that she'd never been able to get rid of the memory of him, the feeling of him buried inside of her, the way his hands used to map out her skin like he'd been doing it for centuries instead of seconds.

Their first encounter, no matter how fleeting, had been right up there with some of the most memorable experiences of her short existence.

And Klaus _knew it,_ if the satisfied expression on his face was anything to go by.

"And what about the second time?" Klaus asks in a low voice, gaze still on her, blue eyes clouded with _something._ "When I pretended not to listen to you trying to escape me while I gave every appearance of sleeping?"

"Let go." She tells him forcefully, as Klaus acquiesces immediately, perhaps surprised by the forcefulness of her tone. He'd pushed her buttons plenty of times, but had always been careful not to push his boundaries with her.

"I know you felt what I felt while I laid there with my eyes shut. The happiness, the contentment, the feeling of finally coming home." Klaus' words bite into her, wrapping around her with little chance of escape. "And I know that it scared you."

"I'm not having this conversation with you." She tells him, swallowing audibly as she finally meets his eyes again.

Klaus smiles to himself, as if he'd been expecting her flat out denial.

"Very well then. Some other time, perhaps." He replies as he turns, beginning to move towards the dark doorway that leads back into the apartment. "You should try and get some sleep while you can. You never know when you might need it most."

She ignores him, listening to his footsteps as they fade into the distance.

It's only when she's well and truly alone does she turn back to the city, letting out a long breath that she hadn't even realised she'd been holding.

* * *

When she wakes, it's in a bright white room. There's a sizzling sound and she can't help but grit her teeth together in pain as the familiar smell of vervain reaches her nostrils, along with the smell of burning flesh.

Her flesh. She's chained to the bed with handcuffs, although she doesn't doubt that they've been reinforced somehow, because she could break through human ones like they were plastic, had done so on a number of occasions.

She feels groggy, and if she'd been human she would have thought that maybe she'd been roofied as she tugs experimentally at one of the cuffs.

But this was something more, and as she blinks away the darkness at her vision, for the first time in a long time she's genuinely afraid.

The fear had always been there, while she'd been on the run with Stefan and Damon these past few months, trying her best to evade the SRA who seemed hell bent on killing all of them.

Through the haze of her memories, she feels bits and pieces begin to come back to her. Their cosy cabin in Alaska, fire popping and crackling away merrily as a snow storm had flurried outside.

She'd never expected to end up in Alaska of all places, the winters long and the sunlight weak. But Stefan had insisted that it would be the safest place for all three of them, and she'd always trusted Stefan's judgement.

Running had been the best thing for them, once they'd seen exactly what they'd be up against. She knew that Damon was angry about the decision, wanted to fight back, to show the humans that their species was not to be cowed into submission, to be forced into hiding.

She remembers an urgent knocking on the door as Stefan and Damon had looked at each other uneasily as she'd moved towards the door. They'd told no one where they were going save Enzo, and even then had kept their travel plans vague. Alaska was a big place after all.

She'd wrenched the door open, cold air swirling into their warm sanctuary, and she'd remembered….

The screeching of the door to her room jerks her back to the present, and she can't help but quickly glance at the person coming to join her, relaxing a little at the sight of a familiar face.

"Bonnie." She breathes out through cracked lips, tongue darting out to wet them. "Bon you have to help me out of these." She continues, rattling her cuffs as if to drive her point home.

Bonnie's gaze lands on her then, and that's when she knows that something is very, very wrong.

Her friend is dressed in dark clothes, clothes designed to make her blend into a crowd. She's powerless, watching as Bonnie pulls on a pair of surgical gloves and flicks her finger against a syringe full of a sickly, green looking liquid.

Bonnie's smile is dark, and she can't help but recoil a little as her once best friend steps towards her.

"Don't worry Elena. This will only hurt a little." Her oldest friend reassures her, before plunging the syringe into her neck.

The pain is unlike anything she's ever experienced before, and she's felt the cold grip of an Original vampire slowly squeezing the life out of her heart, breaking her sternum and a few of her ribs along the way.

This was something more, something more sharper, more intense.

And Elena Gilbert can't help but scream.

* * *

 **AN:**

 **Wow, okay this story has been sadly neglected, if the indication that I haven't updated this for almost year is anything to go by! I've been trying to get around to this one believe me, because I love the universe and the potential this bad boy has. Of course I'll be finishing this one.**

 **Would love to hear your thoughts (even if it is to reprimand me for my long absence on this story). As you know, every review means the absolute world to me!**

 **Much love to my Klaroline fandom squad, as always.**

 **xx**


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Vampire Diaries or it's characters. If I did, The Originals and Steroline would never have happened, Kol would be alive and happily causing mayhem somewhere, and Klaus and Caroline would be travelling the world and sexing it up.**

* * *

She wakes the next morning feeling like she's been hit by a truck, the exhaustion in her body bone deep. The adrenaline of being on the run for the past few days, mixed with her confrontation with Klaus last night, has her wanting to roll over and sleep for the next century or so, until this whole mess blows over.

That could be an option. She could get Klaus to get one of his witches to do their witchy voodoo thing, lock her in a shipping container somewhere, desiccated until someone can give her some blood. That would be the easy way out.

With a sigh, she rolls out of bed and plants her feet on the musty carpet, inspecting her surroundings curiously.

She hadn't had a chance to truly explore the hotel they're in, but the suite she's in would have been nothing short of opulent when it was occupied by humans. The glass windows are broken, fallen into disrepair with the neglect of the hotel, but she can still see the beauty in the furnishings, the decorations.

She might have stayed here on a visit, had she had the guts to compel her way into this suite. She runs a hand over the sumptuous covers, sending a silent thank you to the fabric for shielding her from the howling of the wind last night.

It still amazes her sometimes, that she actually needs to sleep. It's such a human action, the lull in consciousness, the opportunity given to the body to recharge itself.

Enzo reassures her that she'll need less sleep the older she gets. She can't help but wonder if Klaus ever sleeps, or if he spends his nights haunting the footsteps of others. Perhaps that was how he got his terrifying reputation, forever hovering on the fringes of the vampire community, using others to do his dirty work for him.

Until recently of course. She supposes that she should be flattered that it was her and her friends that finally forced Klaus out of seclusion and back into the limelight. But it had brought so many complications to her life since.

Their brief dalliance had turned into anything but, and right now, she can't feel like she's stuck right in the middle of some crappy teen dystopian novel.

She pulls the sleeves of the jacket she's wearing, _his jacket,_ down over her hands, tucking them under her armpits to warm up. If that wasn't a cliche she didn't know what was.

In the next moment she's bending down to pull her boots on, tucking her hair behind her ear, wishing more than anything for a toothbrush and some toothpaste. No one ever mentioned that being on the run would suck quite this much.

A gentle tapping on the door startles her from her thoughts, and she freezes as she glances towards the heavy wood. Anyone she's travelling with could probably kick it down without a second thought, but whoever is on the other side is being surprisingly respectful.

"Caroline? It's time." Klaus' voice is muffled by the wood, but she can almost envision the posture he's adopted outside her door- leaning with one shoulder against the wall, booted feet crossed at the ankle, arms crossed over his chest.

"Time for what?" She asks, inspecting her reflection in the mirror. She can almost hear his eyes roll from beyond the wall that separates them.

"Come on sweetheart. We may as well get this over with."

With two steps she's at the door, pulling it open and stepping into the hallway beyond. Klaus is leaning up against the opposite wall as suspected, watching her carefully for any signs that she's freaking out.

To be honest, she is, kinda. Learning that you were the born again ruler of the supernatural world isn't just something that you can process, cool as a cucumber. Point is, she's still trying to figure out exactly what her new status entails, especially since her new supposed 'powers' have shown no sign of even remotely manifesting into something useful that could help them in this war.

Klaus leads the way towards the end of the hallway, where he looks around for a moment before pushing open the heavy fire door, pressing back against the door frame so she'll have to move close by him to pass.

With an exasperated sigh she turns her body sideways, slinking past him, trying to avoid brushing up against his chest. His chuckle echoes in her ears as she moves into the concrete stairwell, clattering down the steps as Klaus lets the door slam shut behind them.

Almost immediately they're plunged into darkness, and she lets out a short gasp as her foot misses the stair and she pitches forward.

The displacement of air tells her that Klaus is on the move, and he's there to catch her before she can fall flat on her face, lifting her down the last few steps and setting her firmly on her feet on the landing.

"Alright?" Klaus asks, voice echoing around the stairwell. She can't make him out in the darkness, but she has an awful feeling that he can see just fine despite the lack of light. Stupid Hybrid senses.

She grips him by the upper arms tightly, fingertips digging into the fabric of his ever present Henley.

"I'm fine. You can let go of me now."

"Hold onto my arm sweetheart, we've still got a few flights to go. I might be able to see just fine in this darkness, but I think you're having a bit of trouble." His voice is low, melodious, and she tries not to think about the dirty things he's said to her previously using that voice.

"Fine." She bites out between gritted teeth.

Klaus pats her hand once before striding forwards, and it takes everything in her not to stumble clumsily over her own two feet.

Their progress is slow, debris and broken pieces of furniture littering the stairwell. Whatever had happened here hadn't been pleasant.

"How are you even seeing right now?" She voices, fingers still curled tightly around his shoulder as they walk.

"Hybrid vision. It's sort of like night vision goggles that humans use." Klaus replies immediately. "Debris to your left." He says, just as she trips over something, pain lancing up her leg.

"Son of a bitch." She hisses, bending over to massage her shin.

"Well love, that's not very nice, even if my mother wasn't the most pleasant of women." Klaus muses out loud as he lifts his head. "Come on then. Only a few more steps to go and we're there. You might want to cover your eyes at the bottom."

"Now why would I want to do that- shit!" She yelps as Klaus pushes his shoulder against the door, sunlight streaming suddenly into the stairwell.

It's enough to almost blind her, her eyes adjusting to the light as quickly as she can, stumbling forwards into the hallway as Klaus lets the heavy fire door slam shut.

"You should listen to me more carefully sweetheart." Klaus says with a self satisfied smirk as he strides past her, towards the end of the hallway.

There are two standing on either side of the double doors, and they look slightly surprised to see her. Perhaps they weren't expecting her to have such power, perhaps it was the presence of Klaus at her side.

The two vampires locked eyes with Klaus briefly, before the one with the dark hair straightened, rolling his shoulders.

"Welcome. Genevieve is within waiting for you. The Hybrid will have to wait outside."

Klaus smiles to himself. It's pleasant, almost disarming. The two vampires exchange uncertain glances at the sudden switch in Klaus' temperament.

"Actually lads, The Hybrid will also be entering. Unless you'd like to try and stop me? You can't be what, more than 400 years old combined?"

Klaus steps up to the dark haired vampire so they're standing nose to nose, the full force of Klaus' gaze pinning him to the spot. It wasn't compulsion, just a good, old fashioned dose of masculinity and superiority that seemed to roll off Klaus in waves.

She can't help but roll her eyes a little, tapping her foot against the floor.

"If you're done with your pissing contest and the theatrics gentlemen, I'll be walking through that door and taking Klaus with me. You can thank me later when you still find all your limbs attached."

She flicks her hair and steps towards the doors, the two vampires finally stepping aside for her and Klaus.

Putting two hands on the double doors, she gives them a large push, stepping into the room beyond.

* * *

She's surprised at just how young Genevieve is. She's not quite sure what she was expecting, but Genevieve couldn't be more than 25 years old, if that.

The girl clearly commands the room, an odd assortment of vampires and humans, possibly witches lining the walls as she and Klaus pause in front of the chair she's sitting on, upon a raised dais.

"Caroline Forbes." The girl drawls, leaning forward in her chair.

A dark gaze lands on her for a moment before sliding to where Klaus stands, a few steps behind her.

"I thought I gave instructions that the Hybrid be left outside."

Klaus remains silent behind her, and she balls her hands into fists at her side, realising that she would have to answer for him, make excuses for him.

"I thought it be best that we avoid blood shed this morning." She finally replies with a tilt of the chin.

She hears an amused noise from somewhere to her left, glancing sideways long enough to see Elijah leaning languidly against the wall, Katherine beside him with her arms crossed over her chest.

Despite her not trusting either of them as far as she could throw them, it was somewhat comforting to have both of them there if it turns out that she had walked into a trap. She'd seen first hand what Elijah was capable of, could only imagine what Katherine was like when her back was against the wall and she had limited options.

"I can't have someone who can't control their temper staying here with us. You'll leave by sundown and you'll leave this room now." Genevieve directs this to Klaus, looking over her shoulder.

She can't help but turn her head to see his reaction to this turn of events, wondering how powerful Genevieve must be to even think of doing this.

Klaus looks serene, and that worries her.

She turns back to Genevieve just as Klaus smiles, which honestly does nothing to assuage her nerves.

"If you can remove me, I'll go."

Genevieve stares at Klaus for a long moment, eyes narrowed in concentration. It's a look she's seen on Bonnie before, when she was using her powers to deliver a particularly painful vampire aneurysm.

Then, to her surprise, Klaus begins to laugh.

"You think your parlour tricks will work on me? I'm a thousand years old girl. I'll not be intimidated by an upstart witch on a power trip."

His voice has dropped, a dangerous quality to his tone that makes many of the vampires in the room shift uneasily.

Elijah smirks, but does nothing. Kol on the other hand, looks absolutely delighted at the turn of events, Rebekah instead choosing to bury her face in her hands like this is a regular occurrence.

"Remove yourself Hybrid, or you'll be removed. Final warning."

Klaus tilts his chin defiantly but stands his ground, crossing his arms over his chest as he raises a single, insolent eyebrow.

Four vampires step forward, each of them looking like they could have been a bouncer in a previous life. They're massive and burly, corded muscle evident on their arms.

Klaus just sniffs disdainfully as one of them lays a hand on him. Of course, seconds later that hand has been removed from both Klaus' arm and the owner's body, the detached limb twitching on the floor as the vampire in question screams in agony, falling to his knees in front of Klaus.

The second vampire looks uncertain as Klaus turns a cold gaze on him. The remaining two move to block her as she moves towards Klaus, and it's then that she realises that she's _pissed off._

She hisses, gripping the arm of one of the two vampires in front of her, clutching tight enough to grind bones together.

She's surprised then, when the other vampire groans, going stiff as he begins to desiccate in front of her very eyes. She glances downwards, looking for the telltale sign of a wooden stake protruding from his chest, but sees nothing.

The room erupts into noise, Klaus realising first what's happening as he launches himself towards her, tearing her away from the other vampire. She pushes at his chest, Klaus stiffening under her hands as the veins in his neck start turning to black.

"Stop, Caroline." He tells her through gritted teeth, the unrelenting march of decay creeping up around his throat and chin.

Horrified with herself she steps away, staring at her hands in shock as Klaus slowly returns to his previous state, all signs of desiccation slipping away with every passing second.

She feels cold, a strange feeling as she sways on her feet, darkness blurring at the edges of her vision as she looks around the room.

The expressions range from sheer horror to intrigue, but it's Elijah that finally, finally steps forward, a significant look over his shoulder to Katherine, who nods and begins to head towards the exit of the room.

"Come. Let's get you back to your room." Elijah murmurs to her in a soothing tone as she leans into him for support.

He doesn't seem scared of her, and for that she's grateful. She tries to seek Klaus out, tries to apologise, but he's not looking at her, instead rubbing thoughtfully at his neck with an uncertain expression on his face.

Elijah half drags her from the room as they stumble along, the weakness that she's feeling from whatever had just happened in there threatening to pull her under.

She's trembling, and it's only when the heavy doors have closed behind her that she allows the blackness to overtake her.

* * *

Judging by the light, it's hours later when she finally opens her eyes, the rays of the setting sun casting eerie shadows against the wall of her bedroom.

She's flat on her back on top of the duvet, Elijah apparently having helpfully removed her boots before leaving her to sleep off whatever the hell had just happened downstairs.

She takes a breath in, letting her hands hover in front of her face, as if that would give her the answer to all of the many questions that had now sprung up as a result of earlier.

Was that her power that had done that? That had almost desiccated that vampire, had almost desiccated Klaus? And how was it that she possessed the power to apparently incapacitate or kill Klaus when there were very few objects on this Earth that had the power to do either?

Pushing those thoughts out of her mind, she takes another breath, squeezing her eyes shut. Obviously her power had shown up for perhaps the first time. And it had happened when she'd been threatened, when she'd been angry.

Could it be that it was connected to her emotions? That it would only manifest when absolutely needed? And if she could do _that_ to vampires, what about witches, humans, and werewolves?

She sits up finally, running a hand through her hair with a shaky sigh. She feels drained still, out of sorts, every muscle in her body sore and weak.

As if sensing her uncertainty, there's a gentle knock on the door before Elijah is poking his head into the opening. He looks undisturbed by whatever had just happened, the very opposite of Klaus. It was enough to reassure her slightly.

"Excellent, you're awake. How are you feeling?" Elijah asks, his tone business like as he strides further into the room. He's holding a blood bag in one hand, and she's reaching for it before he can even think to offer it.

Elijah gives her a wry smile as he passes it over.

"Thanks." She tells him with a quick smile of her own. "And to answer your question, I feel like I've run a marathon. Want to tell me what the hell happened in there?"

"I believe that was your power doing the talking. We'll discuss it a little later, when you've had a chance to regain your bearings. In the meantime, there's a visitor here for you. Shall I show him in?" Elijah asks with a raised eyebrow as she frowns at him.

She's not sure if she's ready for a tete a tete with Klaus, considering she almost murdered him.

"I think you'll find that this visitor is most welcome." Elijah clarifies at the look on her face.

She uncaps the blood bag and takes a pull from it, the tangy liquid washing over her tongue and slipping down her throat.

"Fine."

Elijah takes his leave of her, and she can hear him murmuring to someone just outside of the room. She looks up at the sound of footsteps, her mouth falling open in shock at the sight of the familiar face.

"Stefan?"

Stefan Salvatore looks like he's aged at least a couple of decades, which is no mean feat considering his vampirism. It's not so much the physical changes, but the tired lines around his eyes, the way he holds himself, like he's about to fall apart if he has to go on for much longer.

"Hey Care." Stefan gives her a wan smile before sinking wearily down onto one of the lounge chairs at the foot of her bed.

"What are you doing here? I thought you were in Alaska?" She questions, setting her blood bag aside momentarily, perching on the lounge next to him.

"We were." Stefan replies wearily, swiping a hand over his face. "Do you have something to drink?" He asks, almost as an afterthought.

She has a feeling that he's not talking about blood, and moves to the sideboard against the wall, to where the alcohol was.

She uncorks the glass stopper and pours out some brandy into a pair of glasses, handing one to Stefan once she's settled back into the lounge.

"No ice, sorry." She explains as Stefan swishes his glass around for a moment before taking a sip.

"Figured that would be a given." He replies with a shrug.

There's a long pause as she tries to gauge him, tries to figure out what to say or what he's going to say. She's surprised when Stefan lets out a bitter laugh.

"Well the world certainly has gone to shit, hasn't it?"

She looks at him in surprise.

"That would be the understatement of the century. Has this ever happened like this for you before?"

"Not to this extent." Stefan answers, draining the rest of his drink and rolling the glass between his fingers.

"So…" She begins, glancing at him sideways. "How was Alaska?"

Stefan seems to slump, and she quickly sets her drink on the floor as she reaches out to grip him on the arm. Stefan's glass drops to the floor as he buries his face in his hands.

"They took Elena."

It doesn't take a genius for her to realise who exactly Stefan is talking about. And if it's true, then this is _bad._

"What?" She asks hoarsely. "Why Elena? How did this happen? You were supposed to be safe!" Her voice rises on that last statement, and Stefan looks at her in alarm.

"I don't know how they found us Caroline, but they did. Damon and I couldn't stop them, we were lucky to get away without being taken ourselves."

"But where have they gone? Where have they taken her? How do we know if she's even alive?" She gets to her feet, pacing back and forth in the short space in front of the lounge.

"I don't know. That's why Damon and I came here."

"You and Damon." She repeats, letting out a sigh. The thought of avoiding the SRA with Damon in close proximity made her skin crawl. Whether Stefan liked it or not, everything was going to change now if the Salvatore brothers stayed with them.

She and Damon had always danced around what had happened when she'd been with him for those fleeting few weeks as a human. It had been rape, plain and simple, all of the memories crashing back into her once she'd turned and become a vampire.

She'd contemplated staking him so many times, more so when he began to use her as bait for Klaus and his siblings, putting her in the kind of danger that no one else ever questioned.

The quiet resentment had quickly blossomed into all out hatred, and she'd had a few choice words to spit at him before she'd left Mystic Falls in her rear view mirror, and had left Elena and the Salvatore Brothers in her past, in the dust where they belonged.

The only reason she had left him alive was because of Stefan, and even now looking back she questioned that decision every day of her existence.

"I know that you don't exactly want us here." Stefan interrupts her train of thought, his tone patient with her. "But I didn't know where else to go. I thought that Klaus maybe might be able to help us."

"Then you're a fool." She tells Stefan, watching the hurt expression on his face as he meets her eyes. "Klaus is never going to help you, not when Elena is involved. She's tried to kill him on so many occasions. Why would Klaus do something for her in return?"

Stefan looks uncertain as he gets to his feet, hands held out in a placating gesture.

"We thought if you maybe asked Klaus…" He trails off, unsure as to what to say next.

She doesn't give him the chance, striding furiously over to the door and yanking it open.

"This conversation is over." She bites out through clenched teeth. "Get out."

"Caroline." Stefan steps towards her, a pleading expression on his face.

"God, and here I thought that things had actually changed, that you stopped seeing me as an Original groupie that you could leverage for their help. Get out, and if you know what's good for you, you won't try this again."

She holds herself tall as Stefan steps past her, an apology on his lips that never comes.

"It's good to see you Caroline. For what it's worth."

Stefan flinches as she slams the door in his face.

* * *

 **A/N: Happy New Year to you all! I hope 2017 is rewarding and fruitful for each and everyone of you. There was a bit of exposition in this one as we drive the story forward, and a surprise appearance from one of the Salvatore brotherss.**

 **So it turns out that part of Caroline's power is that she can desiccate people with her touch, hence the whole Dealer of Death thing. Time will tell if this is a universal thing across all species or if it's just limited to vampires.**

 **Next chapter, Caroline finds out about Bonnies betrayal, Klaus finds out something about Damon and Caroline, and Caroline discovers more about her powers as she gets a visit from an old friend.**


	8. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer: I do not own The Vampire Diaries or it's characters. If I did, the Originals and Steroline would never have happened, Kol would be alive and happily causing mayhem somewhere, and Klaus and Caroline would be travelling the world and sexing it up.**

* * *

There's a dining hall at the end of the floor where they're all staying. It would surprise her, but this used to be one of New York City's most luxurious hotels, or it would have been had it actually had the chance to open.

Before hysteria took over the country, before humans left their ordinary jobs and instead took up arms against the supernatural, spurred on by a ruthless government and an overwhelming sense of righteousness.

She pushes open the heavy wooden doors, listening to the long creak that it makes.

She's surprised to see Klaus sitting at one of the tables, silent and as still as a statue, his back to her as he stares out at the city beyond the mercifully unbroken window.

It had been hard to sleep, with the wind whistling through their floor.

"Hello Caroline." Klaus says lightly, back still to her as she pauses, halfway towards slipping back through the opening the doorway provided. "Leaving so soon?"

His voice is low, melodious, brimming with mirth as she digs her fingernails into her palms. If she'd been human they would have bit into her skin, bright red marks of crimson in stark contrast to how pale she was.

She'd had another dream last night. She'd woken up frustrated, unsure if it was her subconscious thinking of Klaus, thinking of how _good_ they were together, or if it was Klaus messing with her mind, striding into her dreams and _taking._

"Are you alright?" She asks evenly, voice doing nothing to betray the inner turmoil she feels about being alone in a room with him, overwhelmed as always by his presence.

He stands, turning to face her, and her breath hitches in her throat. She's not sure what she was expecting to see. Perhaps a face half decayed, handsome features marred by whatever was lurking beneath her skin, sharing space with her monster.

But Klaus' face and neck were unmarred, unmarked, and she can't help but let out a soft sigh of relief.

"I'm fine." Klaus teases out the words between his lips, cocking his head to the side as he regards her with a thoughtful gaze. "Are you?"

There it was again, that concern for her that no one else, not even her friends back in Mystic Falls had for her. Bonnie was perhaps the exception, but not Elena, too selfish and too caught up in her own worries, trials, and tribulations to worry about the effect that playing bait for Klaus had been having on her.

She pauses for a long moment, the weight of his gaze heavy on her as she fights the blush creeping up the side of her neck.

Klaus steps forward, closing the distance between them, hand coming up to rest gently on the side of her neck, thumb brushing the underside of her cheekbone, feeling the heat in her skin.

She refrains from touching him in return, scared to unleash her power, worried it will have a more permanent and lasting effect.

Klaus' lips quirk into a small smile as he takes her other hand, resting it over the pulse point ticking at the side of his neck. She tries to snatch it away, but his grip around her hand tightens, pressing her palm more forcefully into his skin.

"It's okay Caroline." He murmurs softly. "It's okay." He repeats, hand slipping down to her waist, anchoring her body against his.

"I don't want to hurt you. I don't want you to be afraid of me." She tries to shy away from him but he won't let her, stepping closer into her personal space if it was even possible to do so.

For a moment she thinks that he might kiss her, the distance between them virtually non existent.

The scary thing is, she would let him. Right here, right now. She breathes in sharply as Klaus' eyes linger on her lips for a moment, giving her an odd smile.

The creaking of the door has her looking over her shoulder, seeing Stefan's surprised gaze as he takes in the way the two of them are standing.

"Am I interrupting something?" He enquires politely, careful not to get on her bad side once more, or anger her.

"What do you think, mate?" Klaus asks with a raised eyebrow as she turns her glare on him for even thinking about insinuating something that wasn't there.

Stefan just sighs, stepping into the room and closing the door behind him as she pulls herself away from Klaus.

"I must admit, you were the last person that I expected to see here." Klaus drawls, turning and pulling out a chair for her, gesturing for him to sit.

She's surprised at the chivalry in his gesture, ignores Stefan's raised eyebrow at the minute interaction between them.

She's long past the period in her life where Stefan's judgement even mattered, so she smoothly sits, folding her arms over her chest, Klaus sinking into the chair next to her with a smirk.

"I wasn't expecting to find you to be honest." Stefan sighs, running a hand through his hair as he sits at the table opposite them. "But I heard whispers that Katherine was around, and where she goes the rest of you usually do."

"A habit I fully intend on breaking." Klaus remarks with a dangerous smile as she shoots him another sharp glare. "Let's get down to it. What are you doing here?"

"Elena was taken."

"And I should care why?" Klaus asks as Stefan looks at her pleadingly.

She just sits there in stony silence, refusing to say anything.

"I was hoping you could help." Stefan finally returns his gaze to Klaus as the two stare at each other for a long moment.

"So you've finally plucked up the courage to ask for my help instead of trying to get Caroline to _convince_ me." Klaus' accent curls around the emphasised word as he leans forward with a sharp smile that's all teeth.

Stefan looks uncomfortable, pulling tightly at the collar of his jumper.

"You don't think I didn't know how you used her to bait me? Of course I played along, to let you think that you even had a chance of bringing me down. I enjoy her. I always have."

Klaus' eyes meet hers for a split second before he continues to stare at Stefan, who flinches at Klaus' confident pronouncement of his acquaintance with her, even if his words insinuate more.

"And now you expect me to extend an offer of assistance for you to get your pathetic doppelgänger back and put _my_ life at risk? Isn't she still fucking your brother? A little pathetic that you're still so invested in her, mate."

She can't help but flinch at Klaus' words. She and Elena had been estranged for many years now, but she'd known Elena since she was a baby. That still counted for something, despite what Stefan and Klaus both seemed to think.

Klaus is silent for a long moment.

"My answer is no. Do not try to recruit my siblings into one of your harebrained schemes, and do not ask Caroline to participate. Do you understand? I will not have her being placed in harms way because of you. Not anymore."

Klaus' voice is low, dangerous, and Stefan audibly swallows, murder in his eyes.

"I think Caroline is allowed to make her own choices."

Klaus just snarls at Stefan, eyes hybrid yellow.

"Get out."

Stefan gets up, stalking out of the room without a backward glance. She lets out the breath she hadn't even realised she'd been holding.

Klaus might not know it now, but he'd made a dangerous enemy.

* * *

"I wondered when you'd come and see me again. Nice to see you've lost your guard dog." Genevieve begins with a smirk, turning away from the window and taking a seat at a great oaken desk.

The study that she's found herself in his small, far smaller than the audience hall that Genevieve had fashioned for herself, received her and Klaus in the other day.

"He has no claim on me." She replies cooly, sinking into a seat opposite Genevieve uninvited.

The witch raises her eyebrow, but perhaps chooses wisely to say nothing further about Klaus.

"Can I offer you a drink? Some blood perhaps?" Genevieve continues, waving her hand towards the side board.

Her fangs prick against her gums at the smell of the tangy blood sitting in a glass stoppered bottle, but she shakes her head.

"I'm fine, thanks. I'll find some later."

Genevieve stares at her for a long moment.

"Such control for one so young. It is most unusual. Tell me how were you able to master yourself?"

She lifts her shoulders into a shrug.

"I was a bit of a control freak when I was human. When I turned, I supposed that manifested into a good sense of self control. That and I was turned while I was still in high school. I had to adapt or be found out."

"Remarkable." Genevieve murmurs, sipping at her own drink. "And your relationship with the Hybrid?"

"I don't see how that's any of your business." She replies a little sharply as Genevieve smiles to herself.

"He's a danger to you and your power. Surely you must know that?"

"I trust him. Which is more than I can say for you. What do you want?" She asks the other girl bluntly, Genevieve raising a perfectly arched eyebrow.

"Then you're a fool. And I want what my kind all want. The balance of nature restored once more. There have been periods throughout history where the humans have overstepped their bounds, brought chaos into the lives of the supernatural that prowl the earth."

"And how do you propose that we restore the balance?"

"By stopping them of course. By whatever means necessary." Genevieve's smile doesn't quite touch her eyes, and in an instant she realises what the witch means.

"Sorry." She says, standing suddenly. "I'm not really into mass murder. Especially of humans."

"A vampire with a moral compass. How interesting." Genevieve drawls, taking another sip of her drink, eyes narrowing as her gaze fixes upon her.

The sudden explosion of pain in her head is excruciating, a pain she's not felt since a witch tried to give her a vampire aneurysm at her graduation.

She can't help but shriek in pain at the sensation, the building of pressure in her brain as she launches towards Genevieve across the desk, knowing that if she could kill the witch then the pain would go away.

Genevieve holds her in place with a sudden burst of magic as the door crashes open, Klaus appearing on the threshold with a positively murderous look on his face, Katherine at his heels.

Genevieve releases her immediately, pain subsiding like the flipping of a switch.

"Just wanted to see if it would work against you. Perhaps you'll reconsider my offer, in time."

Klaus moves to step into the room, possibly fully intending to wrap his hands around Genevieve's neck, squeezing the very life from her.

But he's stopped at the door, blocked by Genevieve's magic as he snarls at her.

"I'm not so easy to kill Hybrid." Genevieve spits in Klaus' direction as his eyes narrow at her. "Remember that before you come to tear my heart out later tonight."

She backs away from Genevieve, Klaus braced against the doorway, as he holds out a hand to her pleadingly.

She doesn't hesitate when she reaches out to take it, the magic giving beneath her, allowing her to exit the room that Genevieve is still occupying.

"We're leaving." Klaus murmurs towards Katherine, once they exit the floor. "First thing tomorrow morning. Tell the others."

Katherine just nods once in agreement before melting away into the darkness, leaving her alone with Klaus.

He just stares at her for a long moment, watching her sway on her feet tiredly before nodding to himself.

She's surprised when he bends down, sweeping her up into his arms in the next moment. She goes willingly, surprised at how weak she is after her little show down with Genevieve.

She rests her head tiredly against his chest, not caring who might see her like this, what they might think. She's long since passed caring about what other people thought of her.

She looks down at her hands, watches the blackness throb beneath the pink of her skin, swirling around like darting shadows. She curls her hands into fists, nails digging into the palms of her hands as she tries to force the darkness back beneath her skin.

Klaus nudges open the door to what his clearly his room with his boot, barely breaking stride before he's sitting down on the edge of the bed, moves her until she's sitting on his lap.

She hears his fangs descend, watches as he bites into his wrist, fangs pricking at her lips as the potent smell of his blood hits her with full force, just like the blood back in Genevieve's office had.

She's _hungry._ Hungrier than she realised.

"Drink." He orders, and she can't help but stiffen in indignation at the forcefulness of his tone. "You've gone without blood for far too long. I can't believe I've overlooked it."

She twists away from him, Klaus' remaining free hand a grip of iron on her waist to hold her still.

"I'm not drinking from you." She tells him stiffly, watching as the bite marks in his wrist begin to seal themselves shut.

"I'm not moving from this bed until you drink." Klaus replies a little stubbornly as she juts her chin out defiantly.

"Then I guess we're going to be here for awhile."

Klaus just smiles a feral smile, thumb swiping along her cheekbone.

"That wouldn't be so bad now sweetheart, would it?"

She just rolls her eyes as she grips his forearm, pulling it towards her.

"Do you mind?" She asks politely as he lets out a chuckle at her formal tone.

"Have at it love. Wouldn't be the first time after all. I'm sure that it won't be the last." He remarks smugly.

She pauses before letting her fangs fully descend, biting into the skin of his forearm before she can overthink it. It was just about survival. Nothing more, nothing less.

Whether Klaus thought the same was another thing entirely.

His blood tasted as good as she remembered. It's rich and potent, floods her senses with warmth and a feeling of completeness as she takes her fill. It's like ambrosia, heady and addictive.

The feeling of Klaus' hand stroking her hair has her jumping slightly, widening the already messy wound that she's no doubt left on his forearm.

"Sorry." She remarks, mouth thick with blood as she finally pulls back, peering at the mess that she's made.

He's healing quickly, despite not having had blood for as long as she had, perhaps longer.

But then again, he was as old as dirt. Maybe he didn't need as much blood as she did to sustain himself. The desiccation process probably took longer as well.

"That's alright." Klaus remarks mildly, hand falling from her hair as they both pause, realising what close proximity they're in.

Klaus is the one that pulls away first, lifting her off his lap gently, setting her on the bed beside him.

"You should get some rest. I'll watch over you."

She peers around the room.

"Here?" She asks, slightly scandalised. Klaus just looks bemused by this, standing to pull back the covers.

"I don't bite Caroline. Unless you would prefer that of course." He remarks with a quick smile at his joke.

"Fine." She finally replies stiffly, reaching down to pull off her boots. "But if you try anything, I will end you."

"I'd like to see you try." Klaus says amusedly. "But you have my word."

She stares at him for a long moment before deciding it's enough for her, crawling up the length of the bed and burrowing under the covers.

Sleep takes her a lot quicker than she thought it would.

* * *

It's the sound of waves crashing against the shore that has her opening her eyes suddenly. The ocean lies before her, the unrelenting march of time as waves wash against the shore, water pooling at her feet before running back towards the sea.

She looks down at herself, at the simple sundress that she's wearing, miles away from the ragged clothes of Rebekah's that she'd been running around in for far too long now.

"This is unexpected." A familiar voice echoes from next to her, and she turns suddenly, startled to see Klaus standing next to her, brow furrowed as he stares out at the ocean.

He's dressed in his usual uniform, boots, jeans, henley and an ever present leather jacket, familiar necklaces peeking out from under the neckline.

"What the hell is going on?" She asks shrilly, whirling back to face the ocean, to take in her surroundings. This was as far from New York as one could possibly get, cornflower blue skies, sunshine, and nary another soul in sight. "Have I teleported?"

"Not possible." Klaus replies immediately, taking a step back from the water, eyeing the waves off with some distaste. "It seems that you've learnt to dream walk love."

" _Dream walk?"_ She asks incredulously. "Is that even a thing? _How_ is that even a thing?"

Klaus' lips quirk into the smallest of smiles as he waves her over to a stretch of sand where even the water can't touch.

She sinks down onto the ground, still stunned by the landscape around her.

"It seems that my suspicions about my blood are correct." Klaus begins, hands laced together, elbows rested on his knees. "When a vampire drinks from me, it seems that certain abilities… manifest. Make themselves known. It's why I choose not to give out my blood freely."

"So all of this." She waves a hand to encompass their surroundings, "Is happening because I fed from you?"

"Yes, essentially." Klaus confirms for her.

"So why are you here? If this is my dream?"

"Is it?" Klaus smiles enigmatically, not revealing anything more than that. She snarls at him as he laughs. "Yes it's yours. I was curious, to see if you were capable. I'm not fully unconscious back in reality. Merely restful. Still watching over you."

"Is much happening, back there?" She asks tentatively.

"I haven't killed Genevieve. Yet." He replies in a dangerous voice. "Although I do believe Kol and Rebekah are coming up with a way to creatively murder Katherine. Your sire is not very popular with my siblings it would seem."

"Yeah, well she's not very popular with anyone." She mumbles under her breath.

"Do you know, I think this is the longest conversation that we've had in a civil manner." Klaus points out in that infuriatingly observant way of his.

"It' s a Christmas miracle." She remarks dryly before sighing. "So is this… ability a permanent thing, or is it going to wear off eventually?"

"I'm not sure." Klaus admits, staring out at the ocean before them. "I suppose only time will tell."

"Wonderful." She sighs, burying her face in her hands for a few moments. "I wish things were just back to the way that they were. Before."

Klaus stiffens next to her, turning to glance at her.

"Something's happening. We have to go." Klaus says sharply, taking her hand and pulling her suddenly to her feet.

* * *

She comes to with a gasp back in New York, Klaus standing next to her, hand on her shoulder to shake her awake.

"This is so weird." She points out as she shoves her feet into her boots, taking Klaus' outstretched hand as he pulls her from the room.

She can hear the yelling now, muffled by the doors of the dining room as Klaus strides towards them, not pausing on the threshold as he pushes one of the doors open.

Almost abruptly all conversation ceases as her eyes land on Damon Salvatore, lips curling in distaste at the sight of the raven haired vampire.

The Mikaelson's are sequestered to the other side of the room, Rebekah's face revealing just how much she doesn't want to be here right now.

"Caroline?" A wavering voice says as Elena steps out from behind Damon, blinking at her with wide brown eyes.

She starts forward towards her oldest friend, Klaus stopping her before she can go further.

"Something's wrong." He murmurs to her, gaze fixing on Elena for a long moment. "Don't go any closer."

Klaus himself steps towards Elena, hands held casually behind his back as he regards her for a long moment.

"How did you escape the SRA?" Klaus enquire curiously as everyone turns their eyes towards Elena, who's trembling under Klaus' intense gaze.

"I can't remember." She replies honestly, tongue darting out to wet her cracked lips.

"How did you know to come here?" Klaus continues his line of questioning. "How did you know that we'd be here?"

"I said I couldn't remember!" Elena snarls at Klaus, features feral for a few split seconds. "I don't have to answer to you anyway, Hybrid." She sneers unpleasantly.

"See? Everything's fine. Elena had a lucky escape, but she's here now, and that's all that matters." Damon says firmly, stepping forward, an arm around Elena's shoulders.

To everyone's surprise, she shrugs him off with a frown.

"Damon." Klaus remarks pleasantly. "If you value your existence, you'll step away from Elena now."

Damon's eyes flick towards Klaus with a frown, and to everyone's surprise he does Klaus' bidding.

Elena snarls at Klaus again, vampire features on full display. But she doesn't move to attack him.

No. This time she moves towards Kol, faster than everyone would have thought possible, hands outstretched and fangs bared.

Kol reacts quickly, batting Elena away like a human would a fly. It's Elijah and Katherine that move then, both coming behind Elena to restrain her, Elijah taking Elena's face in his hands and twisting quickly to snap her neck.

Katherine just lets her drop to the floor, nudging Elena's body with a boot clad toe, a distasteful look on her face.

"God, now I remember why I dislike her so much."

Klaus just looks smug, smiling pleasantly at Damon.

"You were saying, Salvatore?"

* * *

 **AN: Whoops, it's been awhile since I've updated this one! I've been playing around with this chapter for awhile, trying to get it to the standard where I feel like it's ready for posting. Hopefully I've succeeded!**

 **I've always loved the idea of dream walking which is something that I stumbled across in Richelle Mead's Vampire Academy series. This version will be slightly different, coming about as a result of blood sharing with an Original.**

 **For those reviewers asking whether or not Freya, Finn, Hayley and Hope will be in this- I have a tendency to ignore The Originals show as a whole, so I don't really acknowledge the existence of Freya and Hope. I've always thought Finn as rather one dimensional so I choose not to write him.**

 **Hayley may make an appearance in future chapters, but I'm not 100% sure at this point.**

 **See you on the other side!**


End file.
